Laura Versus the World

It's all Greek to me ...

2007-06-16T17:00:00.000+01:00

So, you last left me in Vienna, a city of great beauty, unexpected heat and lovely buildings!! I met up with my friend Christoph, and we had a great night out, partying with Austrian students!! On the Thursday, I wandered around the former Royal Palace, definitely a sight to see!! After the traditional Vienna Schnitzel, I headed to bed very early, as I had foolishly booked a 6am flight to Athens the next day!!

I eventually arrived in Athens later on the Friday, to discover I agreed with most people's assessment - leave ASAP!! The Acropolis is duly impressive, but the rest of the city is rundown and unpleasant feeling. However, I then headed to Santorini on Saturday, which was just beautiful!! Black beaches, high cliffs, volcanoes, and all those lovely little blue and white churches you see in photos - definitely what I wanted from a Greek island!! I was alone, again, as my poor friend Anika has collapsed a disc in her back, but after some periods of loneliness, I met some great American girls, and we went on a volcanoe tour, and saw the sunset in a beautiful location with our Greek guide - photos next week!!

I then headed to Mykonos, for more traditional beaches and Eurotrash - drinks and umbrellas on the beach, very relaxing and very touristy!!

Now I am in Venice, after having to walk for about 2 hours from near the airport, after storms brought down trees, cancelled music festivals and blocked roads!! I love this city, so pretty, so warm, nice people, great water ...

Anyway, Germany, then home soon - yay!!

Another reason to hate Dubya ...

2007-06-06T19:41:00.000+01:00

So, my crazy 3 weeks of travel has begun!! On Sunday, I got to spend 7 hours at Leeds airport, while they fixed 'technical difficulties' in our plane - this included time when we actually boarded the plane, flew for 20 minutes, then had to return!! So I finally arrived in Prague at 11pm, rather than 3pm as originally planned! After successfully negotiating bus, train and tram to my hostel, I chilled in the bar, chatting to fellow travellers (I love feeling so worldly - 'oh, yeah, you should definitely go to Budapest ... I love Berlin ... Spain is great!).

Monday morning I went bright eyed and bushy tailed to Prague Castle, one of the most beautiful in the world. Well, I wouldn't know, because it was closed for Monday and Tuesday, the 2 days I was in Prague. Why, you ask? Because bloody George W. Bush was visiting!! So, yeah, not happy Jan!!

Anyway, I had a great day - I went to St Nicholas Church, a crazy Baroque thing of gold and beauty, walked across the Charles Bridge, went on a boat tour, read some Czech authors, and finished off the night with a performance in a church by the Prague Brass Ensemble and organ - really great!!

Tuesday was warmer and sunnier - I went back to Charles Bridge and climbed the tower for great views. I then finally chose a Babushka doll (I love those things!!), then went to the Mucha exhibition - such great art!! After a relaxed lunch, I wandered back to the hostel, bought some fruit, then found my way to the correct train station to say farewell to Prague, and head to Vienna!!

That's where I am now - the 30 degree heat has caught me by surprise, but it is pleasant to be warm - although being in a landlocked country means no beach, alas!! I met up with Christoph, who I met in Denmark and is Austrian, and we went to lunch, then out to the cemetary - as one does!!! We saw Beethoven's grave - quite cool!! Then we wandered around Stephensplatz, seeing the great church, and then I saw all the lovely buildings on the Ring road - architecture is lovely here!!

No photos, sorry, no way of uploading them - but I'll bore you all with them in a couple of weeks!!

Athens on Friday - bring on more countries, I say!!

Another day, another country left ...

2007-06-01T18:43:00.000+01:00

After a whirlwind few weeks of last Dutch experiences, I have left the Hague!

My flatmate Mike and I had a joint party last Saturday night, (to celebrate his birthday and my leaving) which was well attended and highly enjoyable! And no police were called (a rarity in Dutch parties), so all was well!! This photo is of him in his 'birthday boa and hat' - we convinced him to buy accessories when we spent the day in Rotterdam - it was quite fun to dress him up!!

My last day at the Tribunal was busy but nice - my team took me out for lunch, and gave me a farewell bear and book, and then I left the building - quite sad, after having spent 5 months there, but refreshing to have no responsibilities for the next few weeks!!

A nice canal view on the walk to work

The Tribunal in all its glory!!

Me and the sign!

So after sending 3 boxes of clothes, dvds, books and shoes home to Australia, I have embarked on my final three weeks in Europe. I flew this morning into Liverpool, travelling to Leeds to see Charlotte and her family. On Sunday I will fly to Prague for 2 days, then Tuesday evening train to Vienna. After catching up with my Austrian friend Christoph, I will fly to Athens, where my friend Anika will join me for a week on the Greek islands in the sun!! On the 15th I fly to Venice for the weekend, seeing my friend Diego, then to two parts of Germany, Stuttgart and Hamburg, to catch up with Anna and Marte!

So it will be a busy three weeks, of seeing people I became close to in Denmark, and seeing places I have wanted to see!! On the 21st, I leave Hamburg to fly back to Sydney - yay!! So I'll be home from the 23rd of June.

E-mail is the best way to contact me over the next few weeks, but looking forward to catching up with all you Aussies!!

Canals, Pearls and other Dutch things

2007-05-14T09:43:00.000+01:00

So, I haven't been writing much, as I haven't been travelling much, focussing more on enjoying life here in the Hague over the past few weeks.

Queen's Day is a public holiday on 30th April, where the Dutch celebrate the birthday of the previous Queen. Queen's Night, 29th April, is a massive street party everywhere in Holland, with people dressed in bright orange, waving flags, drinking and being generally merry! It was a crazy and enjoyable night, with all the drama usually associated with big nights out - relationship crises, fist fights, and general dancing mayhem!! But great fun!! Amsterdam is the place to be on Queen's Day, if you're on a canal, however after battling the crowds on Queen's Night in the Hague, I decided to opt for a more relaxing beach public holiday experience!

Which was lucky, as the past few weeks have been highly unpleasant weather - cold, rainy, windy to the extreme - lucky I haven't sent my winter clothes home yet!!

Friday night a couple of weekends ago we went on a canal tour - it was great, sailing around the various waterways of the Hague, really seeing lots of the city that you otherwise wouldn't get to! Some of the bridges are quite low, however, so we had to crouch in the bottom of the boat!

I finally found my way to the Turkish fruit markets this weekend, and bought so much cheap fruit and vegetables, it was great!

Saturday night we hosted a Eurovision party at my place - lots of fun, laughing at the various acts - our top votes were Georgia, Greece and Ukraine, however Serbia won the day (very political for us, as we are prosecuting war criminals from there!)

Sunday I went to the Mauritshuis, which is the art gallery here - it houses the famour Vermeer 'Girl with a pearl earring', among other lovely Dutch works, so it was a great way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon!!

So, in other news - I will be home in July!!! I decided that many months of vague travel plans with limited funds didn't sound like as much fun anymore, so I will finish my internship at the end of May, travel around for a month (Prague, Vienna, Venice, Croatia, Greece), and then head home late June/early July, to start work at Allens 11th of July. So, Sydneysiders, prepare yourselves, I'm coming home!!

Tiptoeing through the tulips ...

2007-04-26T12:47:00.000+01:00

So, in the spirit of experiencing Holland in the best way possible, as I have been spending quite a few weekends relaxing at home in Den Haag, on Saturday we went to Keukenhof, a giant flower exhibition about 45 minutes away. Words really don't describe fully the amazing flowers - lots of tulips, but hundreds of other types of flowers, of all colours and shapes and sizes - so lovely!! So find below some of the many photos I took - it's basically a giant garden, with different beds of flowers scattered around - crowded with people, but well worth the effort!!

Nearby to the actual exhibition are many tulip fields - we were going to hire bikes and bike around (trepidation on my part, considering I cannot actually ride a bike, and have successfully avoided being a cyclist in 2 bike-obsessed countries over the past 10 months!!!!), however all the bikes had been hired, so we settled for wandering in one field nearby, which was quite spectacular in itself, as you can see below!!

I'm a flower faery!!

My flower compatriots - Antonia, Megan and Emily, Megan's US friend

Very Dutch - tulips and windmill!!

Bella Roma!

2007-04-15T19:26:00.000+01:00

So, my Easter weekend was lovely, warm, full of gelati, and also quite holy - because we went to Rome!!

A long travel to get there (Ryanair cheap flights always seem less appealing after you actually travel from home to train station, train to next city, bus to airport, fly, then bus to city - 9 hours later ...), but so worth it!!

I have been to Rome before, but travelled with 5 other friends - Camilla and Megan from Melbourne, Megan from California, Mike from Montreal (my flatmate) and Bente from Norway - both Megans had also been there before, while everything was new for the others!! We stayed at a great hostel that Megan had been to before, where they gave us little packs of snacks on arrival, and even some wine because they remembered Megan!!

After a lovely Italian meal, we saw some of the sights at night - Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Victor Emmanuel's monstrosity - everything is lit up and lovely!!

Me and the Colosseum

We strike a pose - myself, Megan, Bente, Megan, Camilla

Victor Emmanuel by night

Trevi Fountain by night

Friday dawned sunny and warm - we were so excited not to have to wear our coats!! Europe has done terrible thigns to my thermostat, that I now consider 19 degrees a warm day!! While the others went on a Colosseum tour, Megan and I walked along the lovely river Tiber, lunched at Piazza Navona, did a spot of shopping, then met the others for a relaxing dinner at an authentic Roman restaurant (ie no tourist menus with 5 different languages!!) We then went to a funky wine bar before bed.

Colosseum by day

The lovely Tiber

It's a hard life!

The Pantheon

Saturday was also warm and lovely - both Megans and I wandered around the Vatican while the others went into the Vatican museum, and we lunched and sunned ourselves - ah, it's a hard life!! We then went to the Spanish steps, and after some dinner, we ventured to Trastevere, a funky area of Rome with lots of bars and restaurants. Later that night, after much urging from our Norweigan counterpart, we sampled Rome's nightlife, at an area called Testacchio, where we partied with many Roman men, and realised that Italian men can be a little too friendly sometimes - such obvious groping is not what I am used to!

Green is the theme - Mike, Camilla, Megan, Megan

Fountain at St Peter's - quite close to the front of the square, and where we stood the next day to see Il Papa!

The lovely river Tiber

Ponte St Angelo (bridge of angels - so pretty!)

Laura and Spanish Steps

Sunday morning, I dragged myself out of bed after only 4 hours sleep, and joined Megan and Mike for the Easter Mass at St Peter's, presided over by the Pope, which then leads into his Urbi et Orbi speech, which is his little sermon to the world. He then wishes Happy Easter in about 40 languages - the square was packed with thousands of people, and it was amazing, like the Catholic Olympics, with everyone waving flags, cheering when they heard their language - a great experience!!

The Crowd at the Catholic Olympics ...

Il Papa rocking the crowd!!

We then wandered around, more pizza and gelati, then relaxed in a lovely park - definitely the theme for the weekend, a relaxed tour of Rome!! We then had an enjoyable Easter banquet for dinner, and a relatively early night, before embarking on our journey home on Monday. All in all, a great Easter weekend!!

Holland has finally recognised spring, with 27 degree weather this weekend - so my life resembes a resort, as the beach here sets up bars and sun lounges, with table service - it's a hard life, lying around being served!!

Buda and Pest

2007-04-03T09:35:00.000+01:00

Yes, it appears they are separate cities, Buda and Pest, separated by the Danube River - who would have guessed!! But I thoroughly enjoyed my experiences in both cities!!

I travelled with two Aussie girls, Antonia and Camilla, and we partied with a variety of international students who study in Holland, where Antonia was last semester.

After an annoying baby/parents combo on the plane to Budapest (crying baby, annoying parents), we made it, later than we expected, so headed to bed to be fresh for the next day. Friday dawned rainy and cold, so after a fortifying Hungarian breakfast (including paprika omelette, the spice of choice in Hungary!), we went to the Museum of Terror, which used to be the headquarters of the Hungarian Nazis and Communist bad guys - a great museum, well laid out and good provision of information!! We then decided to go to the ballet, as one does when one can get tickets for $10, so 'Gone with the Wind' the ballet was an enjoyable way to spend the evening, especially as the Opera House is a gorgeous building!!

The lovely opera house

Myself, Antonia and Camilla at the Opera

We then met up with the Nymegan crew, went across to Buda (our hostel was in Pest) to a nightclub at the top of a shopping centre, and danced the night away!!

Saturday also dawned rainy and chilly, so we headed to the Baths, which are awesome - lots of different sized and temperatured baths, from 18 degrees to 38 degrees, and a variety of saunas, including a cinnamon flavoured one!!

Poppies en route to the baths

After a post-bath rest, we went out for a hearty Hungarian meal, which included lots of meat and cabbage!! We then met up with the internationals at a funky garage-type bar, and realised the folly of trying to keep 25 people happy, as we changed locations frequently!!

The funky club in Pest

Sunday was sunny and warm (well, around 12 degrees!!). We walked across to Buda castle, which has amazingly beautiful walls, statues and churches surrounding it, although the castle appears now to be used for offices and an art gallery.

The view across the Danube from Pest to Buda - myself and Antonia

View from the top!

Castle Gates

Castle walls

More castle walls

I really loved the castle walls - so pretty!!

We had a chilled out night of coffee, cake and drinks in Buda.

We also successfully negotiated with taxi drivers - Hungary is still on the Forint, with around 150 to the Aussie dollar, and taxi drivers frequently don't put the meter on, but just estimate how much it will cost - we worked out the best option was to call one with a price, and then bargain down to that price on the return journey, as otherwise most taxi drivers took advantage of tourists by tripling the price!!

Monday was our last day, so we had a relaxing brunch, wandered around the markets and then headed back to the Hague! All in all, a relaxing, cultural and partying weekend - definitely worth a visit!!

Ay, to be sure ...

2007-03-21T10:57:00.000Z

Well, I have spent two relaxing but busy weekends in the Hague, and one out of it in the past 3 weeks, so lots to report!!

After a relatively quiet weekend after Berlin, going to the movies (I recommend 'Notes on a Scandal') and celebrating Emily's birthday with a lunar eclipse and some margaritas, I spent the next weekend enjoying the Hague - I went to the Scheveningen beach both days (not to swim, still waaaay too cold!!) It's actually quite nice to walk along, although nothing on the beaches at home! Lots of house parties and dancing meant very late nights (or early mornings, depending on how you look at it!!) Also some time spent at my new place, relaxing on the couch with my new flatmates - I'm settling in well, so nice to have a proper kitchen and living room, although fun getting used to living with boys again!!

I am also still busy at work, helping sort out our witness statements and facts, which can be a bit tedious sometimes, but then when you see what you're doing actually have a direct effect on the trial, it's worth it!!

So, last Friday night my former flatmate Chelsea and I headed to the lovely city of Cork, Ireland, for a St Patrick's Day weekend! We spent 3 days in the company of a number of drunk Irishmen (with lovely accents!). When watching the parade on Saturday, we bought oversized green hats, which seemed the norm.

Our newly purchased hats at the parade

One of the better floats at the parade

However, when we wore them out that night, we realised that as Cork is not that touristy, we were in a dressed-up minority - this was fun, however, as it ensured we got lots of attention, drinks, new friends!
Crazy girls out on the town!

The atmosphere

On Sunday we visited Blarney Castle, and yes, we kissed the famous Blarney Stone (backbend and all!), so now I am even more eloquent than before! It's a lovely spot, actually, and quite relaxing to wander around, although the random hailing did present the need to head indoors every so often!!

Blarney Castle

Me kissing the stone - ah, the backbend!

View from the top

Sunday night found us being serenaded by a random KISS cover band at a local pub - all part of the travel adventure!

Crazy KISS cover band

Monday Chelsea headed off to Belfast with her friend Kelly, and I stayed in Cork, to visit the Butter Museum - who knew Irish dairy was taking over the world!! Then back to Den Haag on Monday evening.

The St Anne Church at Shandon, above where we stayed

The famous Butter Museum - to quote the flyer, 'worth a scone!'

Alas, no rest for the wicked, so I'm heading to Budapest tomorrow for 4 days - yay!! And then a weekend off, and Rome for Easter - it's a hard life!!

Ich bin ein Berliner

2007-03-04T19:39:00.000Z

Why, yes, I am a jelly doughnut!! The famous JFK statement means that - take out the 'ein', and you are saying you are a Berliner - which is a good thing to be, I think, as the city is great! I spent 3 days there last weekend, and enjoyed every minute of it!!

I travelled to Berlin with my American friends Acadia and Megan. Firstly, our plane was delayed, which was a tad annoying, as we changed gates 3 times, and got in at 11pm rather than 9, so our first night was a little shorter than planned! However, Acadia's friend Todd met us at the airport, helped us find our hostel and a nightcap drink, so all was well!!

Megan, Acadia and myself at the Brandenberg Gate

On Saturday morning, relatively bright and early, we made our way to the Brandenburg Gate for the start of a 4 hour free walking tour, which had been highly recommended by many previous travellers. They were right - it was a great way to get one's bearings around the city, find out a lot about the history, and see things you otherwise wouldn't notice, such as Hitler's bunker, the monument to the Nazi book burnings (which is actually underground!), and the matching French and German churches. Our guide was lots of fun, informative and entertaining, and although it was cold, the 4 + hours didn't seem that long!! And I must say I learnt a lot - the history of the city is so rich, with wars, the Wall, numerous nationalities coming and going - and when you think it's only been 17 years since the Wall came down, it's quite amazing that the city is functioning so well!! There are reminders everywhere of it's history, however, such as bullet holes in buildings, and sections of the former Berlin Wall still standing.

The Holocaust Memorial

Laura and Berlin wall!!

French Church

German Church - spot the difference!!!

Humboldt University - where the book burnings happened

The Book Burning Memorial - empty shelves, enough to fit all the thousands of books that were burned.

After that, we waited in line then climbed the Reichstag, which is the parliament building, a giant transparent dome, that offers a great view of the city, as well as the parliamentary chamber below, so that the politicians always know that the people are above them!

The Reichstag

The people's view of the parliament from the top of the Reichstag

We had a nap, then headed out to meet my German friend Magdalena, for drinks at a funky bar with a great view of the city. A late dinner later, we waited in line (there's a pattern here!!) to get into a club in a converted brewery - it was worth it, free drinks and 4 different dance floors - a great (but late!) night!!

So after my 5am sleep time, I was a little weary on Sunday morning, when we had to check out, however undaunted we continued to the bombed out church, from WW1, which has been left partly destroyed as a reminder of the horrors of war.

The bombed-out church

We then went to the Berliner Dom, which is a great old church, and climbed that for another wonderful panorama of Berlin!

The Berliner Dom

View from the Berliner Dom

Feeling we hadn't done enough (although after plenty of coffee breaks out of the rain!), we then visited the German History museum, for a quick snapshot of some of the major events in pictures and artefacts. Acadia and Megan then left, as they were flying home Sunday night, while I went to meet Magdalena, with whom I was staying for the night. We had some dinner, then went to a funky Russian themed café in East Berlin, chatting about German and Australian politics – a great Berlin experience!!

On Monday I went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum, which details some of the more daring escapes over, under and around the Berlin Wall – it is, however, a curator’s nightmare, as information crowds every space, repetition abounds, and a general feeling of confusion reigns!!
I found the Jewish Museum later that afternoon much clearer and enjoyable – it focused on the overall history of Jewish people in Europe, rather than only the Holocaust, which I found interesting as I didn’t know much about what had happened before. Then, alas, it was time to head back to the Hague, brain full of history and information!

The Jewish museum - old meets new!

The Brandenberg Gate at night

I also moved house last Wednesday, which was great – my new place is highly enjoyable, so nice to have a proper living room and kitchen, still close to everything, still nice flatmates – all is good!!

Work and Carnivale

2007-02-22T15:38:00.000Z

So, I've been quite busy at work this week, as I helped to proof a witness for trial (which involves going over their original statement with them, and clarifying any issues), and then was actually in the courtroom for the examination of this witness, which was very interesting!! There is simulataneous translation in English, French (because our presiding judge is French, the Chamber actually works in French!), and BCS, which is the acronym used for Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, the Yugoslav languages - there are slight differences between them, but there is a sort of central version known as BCS - sort of like the way Italian is used in Italy, but there are still vastly different dialects within the regions.

So it's much easier to understand the demeanour and reactions of the witnesses and the parties when actually in court, as often a lot gets lost in the translation, particularly when watching it on screen. There were some interesting confrontations between our prosecution side and the defence, also, but our witness held up quite well in the face of all the activity!!

Last weekend was Carnivale and Mardi Gras, which is basically when the Dutch and the Germans dress up and go crazy as a precursor to all the deprivations during the Catholic Lent. So after a big night out for my flatmate's birthday on Friday night, we had another big night out Saturday, for Mardi Gras, where we all dressed up and danced the night away! (See my little kid's faery costume below!)

In other news, I will be moving house next week - my current apartment is way too expensive for what it entails, including no living room, faulty electrics, and a hostile landlady, who moved 2 random guys in for 4 days, allowing them to smoke in the kitchen, our only common area! Considering she is treating it like a hostel, I have given her a week's notice, and am moving out at the end of the month, as I have found a much better deal! My new place is much cheaper, and has a huge living room and kitchen (including an oven!! and a couch!!), and even a garden out my window! I will be very sad to leave my lovely flatmates, but as they will be leaving at the end of March, and we work together, we will still keep in contact! My new flatmates are a French Canadian guy and a Dutch guy, both of whom are very nice.

So, that's me for the moment - tomorrow I go to Berlin for 3 days, so I will have lots to report on next week!!

Snowy Stockholm

2007-02-12T21:14:00.000Z

I have just returned from a lovely three day weekend in Stockholm, Sweden! I travelled with a friend from work, Megan, and a friend of hers from college, Mike, who is studying in Madrid, and met us there.

So, on Thursday, it snowed all day in the Hague, which was very lovely to watch out my window at work (see pictures!) It also meant we could leave work at 2pm - the Dutch don't handle snow very well!! We were worried that the trains and planes wouldn't be running, and as we were catching a train to Amsterdam, and a plane from Amsterdam, we left work at 3pm, only to find that everything was running on time, so we were early enough to grab food and relax.

We arrived safely in Stockholm, found the hotel and Mike, and went for a drink in a funky pub nearby, enjoying the really cold weather - minus 5 degrees! The next morning we switched hotels (a long complicated story, our first place was a bit far out of town, so Megan had found a better deal in a more central location), and then went for a wander around the town. It was snowing, and very cold, but so pretty - Stockholm is a city made up of islands, so all the lakes were frozen, snow everywhere! And lovely old buildings and streets - such a nice city!

We went to the Vasamuseum, which is where a 15th century warship is housed - it was built to fight the Danes, but sunk after an hour on its first outing!! But it for some reason didn't rot under water, and is perfectly preserved - it's pretty amazing to see!

After lunch at a lovely little coffee shop, and some more wandering, we had a nap then headed out for the night. We had been given some good recommendations from one of Megan and Mike's friends who used to live there, so we went to the Blue Moon Club, which had a nice fancy dinner, and a floor show - 5 guys singing covers of well known songs, sometimes in English, sometimes in Swedish, with funky dance moves! They performed 3 times throughout the night, with a fun DJ in between, so a good night was had by all!!

On Saturday we went for brunch at Mike's cousin's place, who is Swiss, but married to a Swedish girl - very nice to have some traditional Swedish food, and see some photos of the country! Then we walked to City Hall, where the Nobel prize is presented, (past some lovely frozen lakes, strong enough to walk on!!), and then coffee in a converted prison!

After another nap, we went out for dinner at this crazy Thai place, where you wait for 2 hours for a table, in the bar, but then go into this fun huge decorated place, with waterfalls and lights and paintings everywhere - we ate dinner in a rickshaw!

Sunday was basically check out and wander around, and then we headed back home to the Hague - it was really nice to get away for the weekend, and have a relaxing time - and after minus 10 degree temperatures, it feels positively balmy to have 7 degrees here in the Hague!!

Training it around Holland

2007-02-04T19:38:00.000Z

So, after spending a few weekends not doing a great deal during my days in the Hague except working, sleeping and chilling out, last weekend I began exploring the rest of the Netherlands. There's a great train discount pass which gives 40% off all train travel in Holland, for the bearer & 3 friends, so this has opened up a new world of travel options!

After celebrating Australia Day in style, with drinks at the Embassy, then lots more drinks in the town with the multicultural other interns, and not really getting much sleep, we headed to Amsterdam last Saturday for the day. We wandered around, soaking up the atmosphere, and getting in a bit of sale shopping! Amsterdam is only 50 minutes away by train, but so different from the Hague - much much busier, much more touristy! I then stayed and met up with Ryan and Leah for dinner, which was nice, before heading back for a couple more parties in the Hague - it's a busy social life!

Megan (US) and Bente (Norway)

Acadia (US), Emily (NZ), Frida (Sweden)

Then on Sunday I headed down to Utrecht, a student town about 40 minutes in the other direction from the Hague, to visit my friend Yu, who is finishing his exchange there. It's a nice little town, although I only spent a few hours there - but I don't envy their living arrangements - Dutch places in general are very small, and Yu shares a room the size of mine with another guy, with bunk beds with desks underneath - very compact!! It's funny when I mention to Europeans that I headed to Utrecht just for hte afternoon, for coffee basically, because for me, it's about the same distance as heading to the North Shore to meet someone, Sydney being so big, and I forget that it may seem strange to head to another city in the same way!

Last week at work became much busier, my assignments becoming more detailed - I will be helping to prepare witnesses for trial from next week, so that will be very interesting! We have also been getting quite a bit of general training in international law, with daily lectures as part of our induction training on various parts of the ICTY statutes, and general international law principles, which I'm really enjoying, as it gives a much fuller picture of how what we're doing each day fits into the general scheme of things!!

This weekend was a bit quieter, thankfully, as I went out almost every night last week - my friend James and I went to a play on Wednesday night (in English), called 'Copenhagen', which was about World War II and physicists discussing possibilities for the world - very well done, and always nice to get a bit of culture in!

Friday night, I benefited from my nationality, as a New Zealand judge at the International Court of Justice had invited all young Australian and New Zealand lawyers to 'eats and drinks' at his place - it was good to meet him, and the Australian Ambassador, as well as other ANZACs in the Hague! We then went out dancing, as per usual, so another late night!

Saturday we went to Rotterdam, only about half an hour away. It's a very different city to most of the rest of the Netherlands, much more industrial, less little cobbled streets, but still very nice! We visited the International Film Festival, watching a Danish film, 'AFR', in which a director has taken a pile of interviews with world leaders & Danish politicians and manipulated them into a story about the Danish prime minister being assassinated by his gay lover - very well done! We went for a nice dinner, then an early night!

The Euro Tower

James (Aus), Anamaria and Acadia (US) at the harbour in Rotterdam

Me and the harbour

Views of my world

2007-01-23T17:44:00.000Z

My street

Sunset over the canal

Just a quick post to show some photos of my new adopted city - I finally spent some time wandering around it the other weekend, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine (not warm, but pretty!), so I took some photos. I also took a photo of my street, to show the lovely little streets I keep talking about!

Work is starting to get busier, with increased access to programs meaning increased amounts of information to analyse, sort and enter. We watched some of our case this afternoon in court, which was very interesting - the mix of common law and civil law procedures is very interesting, with the judges and even the defendants able to interject with questions at any time - something I'm certainly not used to seeing!!

And my social life continues to thrive, as usual!! Last week we had severe storm warnings, meaning we were sent home early from work, told to stay indoors, and they closed all the train stations! These are part of the severe storms that have been killing people in Britain and Germany, so we were lucky to only get some wind and rain in my little part of the world! Emily, who is here from New Zealand with her brother Patrick, got stranded, however, as Patrick had gone to Amsterdam with their one set of keys, and couldn't get back because the trains weren't running! So Emily stayed at my place in an impromptu sleepover :-)

On Friday night we went out to a fun club, dancing til 3am as usual, which meant my Saturday was unproductive again! Saturday night we went to a Kiwi party, of a Shell Oil employee that Patrick had met in a club the previous week, so another late but fun night! And Sunday night we watched the last half of the 'Death of Yugoslavia' documentaries we had started the previous week, so now the history of what we're working on makes a lot more sense!!

James (Aussie) tearing up the dancefloor

Frida and me

Emily and me

Big Australia Day plans for Friday - the Australian Embassy here has invited us for drinks, and then we will show all the other interns how to celebrate in style! I may also head to Amsterdam for the weekend (it's only about an hour away on the train) - busy busy as always!!

Den Haag, I say!

2007-01-11T21:07:00.000Z

Well, I have been so crazy busy this week that I've barely had time to think, let alone blog, but I thought I'd give you all a quick update!!

After having to move out of my place in Denmark last Thursday morning, I lived on Charlotte & Fabrizio's couch until my bus to the Hague on Saturday. I had a nice farewell party on Friday night - it was really sad leaving Denmark and all my friends there, but thanks to the combined wonders of Skype and e-mail, I still feel quite close to everyone (and, of course, geographically, I still am!)

After a quite pleasant (I slept most of the way) 12 hour bus ride, I arrived in Amsterdam, to rain, cold, and the need to drag my heavy bags to the train station! I caught the train to the Hague (Den Haag in Dutch), and called my landlady to meet me. And called, and called - she wasn't answering! After a number of messages and calls, it transpired that she had forgotten I was coming on Saturday night, and was at a dinner party!! She finally picked me up and took me to my new home - a cute little 3 storey terrace in a lovely little street. I was exhausted, so after some food, slept and slept!!

On Sunday I met my 5 new flatmates - Diana and Chelsea from America, Frida from Sweden, Ellie from Austria, and Andrea (the only guy) from Italy. They were all really friendly and lovely - Frida was also starting her internship on Monday, but the others have been here for a while, so were able to give us some tips. I just relaxed on Sunday, in preparation for a big Monday!

Frida and I walked to the ICTY on Monday (only 15 minutes from home is great!), and then spent the rest of the morning meeting the 25 other interns from all over the world starting that day - Americans, Aussies, Kiwis, Bulgarians, Italians, Romanians, Belgians, French, Norweigan, Swedish - even a girl from Cameroon! We got our official UN security passes (very exciting!), and then were divided into our 2 groups - I and about 15 new others are at the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP), which is the part that actually prosecutes the accused, and the others are at the Chambers, who work with the judges and the court. The two parts are quite separate in terms of work, but most of my flatmates are from Chambers, so there is quite a lot of social interaction!!

So in the afternoon we met our supervising attorneys, and were assigned our cases - we all work on a particular case, and I am working on an on-going case, that has been in trial since May last year, so I will actually be helping to prepare witnesses and documents for a live case - very exciting!! Although it is hard to get my head around all the details of the changes in the political and geographical climate of the former Yugoslavia - very complicated!!

The rest of this week has involved some training on computer programs we will need, some team meetings about how our case is going, and preparation for various aspects. I won't actually be able to describe in much detail what I do all day, as a lot of it is confidential, but it will be very hands-on, which is great!

My social life is also similar to my exchange experience, which is great - a fair few of us meet for lunch every day, and we had a drinks night on Tuesday night at a nearby wine bar, which was enjoyable! It's nice to then walk home with my flatmates and chat before going to bed - although there is no sound proofing here, and the kitchen is quite small, the friendliness of having 5 other people around is really nice!!

Tonight I went to the city centre for the first time, as we live between the city and the ICTY, and I have been too busy to get there! It is a cute little centre, cobbled little streets with small cosy bars and restaurants - it was a nice change to eat out, without exhorbitant Danish prices! (Although things are still expensive, the Euro seems much nicer than the Kroner!)

New Year, new country, new look

2007-01-02T11:41:00.000Z

After Heathrow delayed us for 3 hours, then lost Charlotte's luggage, meaning we caught the train back to Aarhus at 9:40pm instead of 6:40pm, so I arrived home at 1:30am on Saturday night, it was nice to be back in Denmark!!

Happy New Year to everyone - I celebrated with a German raclette dinner, which is basically a grill, where you grill the meat on the top, then put little pans of vegetables & cheese underneath - it was very yummy, and lots of food! Then there were fireworks, then a trip to our Skjoldhoj bar, for dancing and drinking - a late night, but a great start to the New Year!!

Now I am just trying to organise my life for the big move!! I leave on Saturday morning for the Hague, so I need to pack, clean and sort everything out here in Denmark!

The good news is that I have now finished my degree - yay!! So no study to contend with, which is very relaxing!!

Oh, and I cut my hair again :-)

Merry English Christmas!

2006-12-27T20:02:00.000Z

Merry Christmas, one and all!!

I have been having a lovely time in Leeds, Northern England, with Charlotte and her very welcoming family.
There was almost disaster on the way to the airport - I had just left home to catch the 1pm bus on Saturday, when I realised I had forgotten my passport and the train tickets (both necessary things for travel!), and when running back down the stairs, I twisted my ankle. It wasn't a bad sprain, but it did prevent me putting my weight on it immediately, so my friend Marte kindly helped me with my bags, but we still missed the bus!! Thankfully, we had left plenty of time with the early bus, so the next one, 20 minutes later, meant we still made the 2pm train in plenty of time!!

Our plane at Copenhagen was delayed by about an hour, then we were stuck on the tarmac at Heathrow while various things such as no free stand, a broken tug and passenger's luggage prevented British Airways landing us properly - the helpful pilot kept updating us, however I would have preferred not to keep hearing the various excuses of airport incompetence!! After the 3 hour drive to Leeds from Heathrow, we were glad to get some food and a nice long sleep, not waking up til 2pm Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve is also Charlotte's mother's birthday, so we had a nice dinner and some presents. I spoke to Mum and Dad that evening, as it was already Christmas in Australia!! Christmas Day was cold and grey, unfortunately no snow, but we had a lovely time, opening presents (the generous family had even gotten me lots of cute little things!), and then eating lots of nice hot food, like turkey, baked vegies & Christmas pudding.

I am now officially addicted to British soaps, having watched both Emmerdale and Eastenders every day since Sunday - it's very relaxing, but also disturbing watching Home and Away overseas, presenting a very unrealistic idea of what Australian life is like!! More eating and drinking with neighbours and relatives, as well as sleep and watching TV, has characterised the rest of this week, which is just what I need, after the stress of exams etc over the past few weeks!!

So I hope you have all had a lovely Merry Christmas with your family and friends, and have an enjoyable start to the New Year - I will be partying with Germans and Italians back in Denmark, so it should be lots of fun!!

Danes and Rain

2006-12-16T09:24:00.000Z

So, apologies for the delay - study has been keeping me rather busy!!

The rainy season has begun in earnest here, it now rains almost every day, and it is getting colder, as well as pitch black at 4pm - it's certainly a big change from my usual December!

I have completed one oral exam, with flying colours, although rather large nerves, and have two more to do this week, and after that, I have officially finished my law degree!! This is very exciting, as it means no more study! So the next phase of my life will begin - onto the UN! In between studying, I have been looking for places to live in the Hague, which has proved interesting, with very fussy landladies a premium - I have settled on a nice looking place with other interns.

Last weekend, I had the good fortune of a visit from home - Dad and Odette, who have been in London, came over to Aarhus for a couple of days.

It was great to be able to show my city off - I showed where I live (including the exciting experience of the 25 minute bus ride through the housing estates), the shopping street, the Viking Museum at Moesgaard (including my favourite bog discovery, Graubelle Man), as well as a nice taxi ride through some of the nicer areas of Aarhus!

We also went to Den Gamle By, which is The Old Town, basically a Danish version of 'Old Sydney Town' - people here rave on about it, and many of my flatmates were there, but with all the rain, we didn't find it quite so exciting!

Dad and Odette were staying in the lovely Hotel Royal, in the city near the funky Latin Quarter, so I was able to show off the lovely little cobbled streets and narrow passageways that make this city so pretty!

We also fitted in some lovely restaurants, and a spot of shopping, so now I am fully equipped for my new 'smart casual' UN position! So thanks again guys for coming to visit - with the wonders of internet and phone communication, it didn't feel like 5 months since I had seen you, so hopefully the next year will fly by also!

Last Sunday night, my flatmates and I had the traditional 'Julefrokost', which means Christmas meal. We ate the Danish 'smorbrod', which is basically rye bread with a variety of toppings - pickled herring, curried salad, eggs, tomatoes, liver paste - my flatmates all eat this stuff regularly, whereas it was a bit of an eye opener for me!! The main course was pork with brown sauce, and caramelised and ordinary potatoes - yummy! The dessert was a rice pudding with almond slivers - the game was for the company to eat the whole dish, and then whoever had found the one whole almond in the pudding got a present!! We also drank extremely strong schnapps (38%!), and generally made merry.

It's really nice living with Danish students, because I learn about the Danish traditions, such as their focus on 'Nissa', which are Santa's elvish helpers - they are the major form of decoration, in red and white, to match the Danish flag, which also regularly appears in every home!! The Danish as a whole are rather patriotic and conservative, which is why the Turkish and Lebanese immigrants in my area are treated with great suspicion. However, the Danes do have a great sense of ironic humour, which is why they get on well with the Aussies!!

Oh, and on Thursday night, we went to see a stage production of 'My Fair Lady' - it was an English company, and it was really well done! So nice to go to the theatre - we got cheaper preview tickets, one of the advantages of being in a student town!

Allrighty, back to study - I can't believe Christmas is in a week, and my time here in Aarhus is almost over - it goes so quickly!! It's getting sad, that people are leaving, who I may never see again - but I have made some really good friends here, with whom I will definitely keep in touch in the years to come.

Exciting News!!!

2006-11-30T09:58:00.000Z

On Monday, I received some exciting news - I have an internship with the United Nations!!

I applied for this about 3 weeks ago - normally you have to apply in August, but they had some spots left open, so I spent a frantic week organising references and various documents, and now it's all paid off!!

So, I will be in the Hague, in the Netherlands, from January 8th to June 29th 2007. I will be working with the Office of the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) - so, basically, I will be helping to prosecute war criminals, for the genocide that occurred in Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.

This is a really amazing and exciting opportunity - I will be highly involved in a very practical way, helping to interview witnesses, draft documents, go to court - it will be awesome experience in how an international criminal tribunal actually works, and I will be helping to achieve something big!!

So, that's where I'll be next year, getting experience with the United Nations!! So I'm currently looking for places to live in the Hague, in between studying and socialising!!

If you want to know a little bit more about it, then click on the link to the left, called 'The ICTY' - that will take you to their webpage, I'm doing a Regular Internship. Or just e-mail me, and I'll gladly tell you all about it - I'm so excited!!!

Skagen, Santa and Study

2006-11-26T18:13:00.000Z

Ok, there have been some interesting and more 'cultural' experiences over the past few weeks, for those of you who have been worried that I spend my life partying and drinking!!

- at one stage, my life story was going to be called 'Lost somewhere in Denmark with Italians', as I spent 2 days of last weekend (Friday and Monday) in a hired car with my lovely Italian friends, driving around the coast of Jutland, the island of Denmark where Aarhus is situated. On the Friday, we were planning to get to Skagen, which is the point at the top where the North and the Baltic Sea meet, but after driving to the West Coast to find amber, we realised that we would not make Skagen by sunset (around 4pm here!!), so we stopped at the nearest beach to enjoy the atmosphere, We then drove to Aalborg, the 3rd largest city in Denmark, and renowned for its party atmosphere, but we only stopped for an hour, before driving home!!

- On Monday, then, we hired a car again, and set out for Skagen, stopping along the way at historic Randers, Lokken, the Danish Ibiza (although not so much at the moment, it being winter and all!!), the Moving Dune, which supposedly moves 50 metres per year, and then finally to Skagen, again at dark, so we didn't see it in its glory, but it was still nice!! I realised that beaches don't excite me as much, perhaps because I've grown up with them, but it was good to see the Danish countryside and coastline, and watching 3 Italian guys headbanging to AC/DC while driving through Denmark is definitely a memorable experience!!

Our travelling crew - me, Fabrizio, and our trusty driver, Andrea.

- Friday night was an exciting Christmas experience - the Santa parade!! Santa arrived on a boat in the harbour, then paraded through the town with marching bands, fire engines and helpers giving out lollies and icecream - it was great!! They lit the starry Christmas lights in the main street, and had fireworks (although no OH & S in this country - we were across from the building with the fireworks, and kept seeing bits of flame land on people!!) I'm really looking forward to all the cold Christmassy things here - ice skating, Christmas markets - Europe really goes all out with Christmas lights and decorations, which is nice when it's so cold and dark so early!!

- I have finally started studying in earnest, as I have my first oral exam in a week - basically, we know the questions, then we pick one out of a hat when we arrive, and speak for 15 minutes on that!! So I'm busily learning International Copyright in preparation for this, and limiting my partying somewhat to only one weekend night of dancing in the city! I am becoming so dedicated (and also last minute!) that I didn't go to Latvia as planned this weekend, staying home to study and see Santa!!

So that will be my next few weeks, studying, as I have an exam on the 18th and the 21st also. Dad and Odette will be coming to visit in a couple of weeks, which will be really nice, and then I will spend Christmas in Leeds, England, with Charlotte and her family, and New Year's Eve back here in Aarhus!

Halloween, Snow and Vikings

2006-11-11T12:42:00.000Z

Again, my life is a whirlwind of parties and fun, however with exams looming eerily close (I have one on the 4th of December), the real world of study is closing in!!

Halloween was lots of fun - although not really celebrated in Denmark, like Australia, it's still a good excuse to get dressed up, and have a party!! The Tuesday which was actually Halloween involved a costume competition at our local hangout, the Studenterhus, in which my Superwoman outfit took 2nd place! And the pumpkin carving gave my friends 3rd place, so it was a very successful night all round!!

On the walk home through the forest that night, we discussed the possibility of snow, which had been predicted, however none of us really thought it was cold enough. So imagine my glee when I woke up the next morning to find it snowing!! It was so pretty, blowing everywhere!! I was so excited at the bus stop, everyone laughed at me, thinking I'd never seen snow, so I spent all day explaining that I had seen snow, I ski every year, but it's so exciting seeing snow in your daily life! It is very unusual for snow to happen in November in Denmark also, so I feel very privileged!! It stopped by lunchtime, and melted after a couple of days, but was still very lovely!

Then on the Friday night, we experienced another Danish tradition - Julol, or 'Christmas Beer'. It appears that at Christmas and Easter time, the Danish breweries make a stronger beer to help celebrate the holidays, and release it at 8:59pm on a certain Friday night, meaning all the bars give this beer away free at that time!! So it's a mad rush to the bar, Christmas songs are playing (ah, 'Last Christmas', that European chestnut!!), and everyone is making merry - quite a fun experience!!

We went to our local bar in our college, because my flatmates were throwing a Halloween party, complete with lots of bats and carved pumpkins, so I then brought everyone back to our flat - it was fun getting Christmas beer dressed as a faery for Halloween!! Saturday night was my German friend Philipp's birthday, so I enjoyed some German hospitality close to home, as his party was at our college, so we were all able to recover nicely after the strength of the Christmas beer!!

This week I have been afflicted with a cold, possibly as a consequence of the changing weather, possibly my body's resistance to my new gym membership, so have been taking it relatively easy, only going out for dinner on Wednesday night for my Italian friend Fabrizio's birthday. He is obsessed with the Vikings (or the Wikings as they call them here - 'V' isn't really a big letter in Europe!!), so we had a Viking party last night - lots of helmets (historically inaccurate, of course, as the Vikings didn't actually have horns on their helmets!), and general loutish behaviour!!

So, that's my life in a nutshell over the past few weeks - now I will settle down to some serious study, I promise!! After I go to Latvia in a couple of weekends, then I'll study ...

Granada-ey goodness

2006-10-29T18:46:00.000Z

The Alhambra
Us on arrival - me, Ashley, Alison, Mel and Jade

Granada is a lovely old city - it's a student town, but also lots of tourists, due to the wonder that is the Turkish/Christian palace, the Alhambra, which has been there for about 1000 years, and dominates the landscape. However, we were staying in a great apartment, with an awesome view of the Alhambra, quite cheap, and really close to lots of lovely little bars and cafes.

After arriving late, we had to spend a couple of hours on the internet, which luckily was free at our apartment, as Ryanair had sent an e-mail to say that Monday the 23rd, the day we were due to fly home from Granada to Stansted, the Spanish baggage handlers were going on strike, so although we had each paid 5 pounds to check in luggage, we were only allowed to take hand luggage, limited to 55cm long and 40 cm wide, and 10 kilos! As we all had large packs, the size restriction was going to be a big issue, as well as the possible weight, so we had to reassess our options, whether to change our flights, or send things home, or just hope for the best!! We didn't resolve it on the Friday night, but ended up with some very late tapas, at midnight, from a place where the chef kindly reopened the kitchen for us!!

Saturday was gorgeous weather, warm and sunny, so we went to the Alhambra, and spent all day there. There are amazing gardens, ruins, an old temple and the Palace itself, which limits the number of people, so we could only enter at 5:30pm, despite buying our tickets at 1:30pm. However, it was fine, as there was so much else to see, lots of staircases to climb to look at the amazing views of Granada! And the Palace was definitely worth the wait - beautifully intricate mosaic decoration everywhere!

Saturday night, after a lovely meal of paella, we attempted to find a nightclub for dancing, however it appears that students and young people in Granada merely drink alcohol in the various squares around town, so we ended up in a bar near our apartment, with funky music, and a Spanish hen's night, where the bride-to-be was in a belly dance costume, although she had never danced before, so she and i struck up a conversation!!

Sunday was a relaxed lazy day - in Granada, if you order a drink at a bar, they give you free tapas - this tapas I keep mentioning is basically little dishes of meat, vegies or cheese, which were originally used to cover drinks to keep them warm (I think). Most restaurants serve tapas, so you choose a few small dishes to share, and get a variety for a meal - I compare it to Spanish Yum Cha! But in Granada, they give you free tapas with drinks in bars, which is great!! So Sunday we wandered around the lovely little cobbled streets, admired the view, and then drank sangria and ate ham, cheese and bread! Sunday night was more tapas, then some mojitos, some pool playing, then home.
Me with nice view

Lovely little streets

Cute Granadian houses

Monday was our last day, and it rained! Thankfully not until we had organised our luggage - our solution to the limited luggage problem was to post our packs home! So what we saved on our flights with Ryanair (4 flights for $180 Aussie dollars), we spent in 50 Euros to send my pack and half my stuff home!! Oh well - it was funny to be in on the pavement in a main street, taping boxes together!! And I ended up buying a cheap 5 Euro bag for the stuff I needed to bring home on the plane, which is actually quite nice!
The street corner packers

We shopped a bit, then had another great 10 Euro dinner, then taxied out to the airport, to find that although some people appeared to be allowed on with large luggage, some familes were having to dump their suitcases and carry things on in plastic bags, or re-book their flights! So we made the safest decision.

Our flight to London had its own excitement, as the pilot announced 5 minutes before landing that we would actually be landing in Birmingham, because Stansted was closed!! As the plane didn't have enough fuel to fly back to Birmingham, they hired coaches to drive us back, 3 hours!! We were worried we would miss our 7:30am flight, which we had to check in for at 5:30, however we made it back in plenty of time! Then we caught our flight back to Aarhus, and thankfully arrived home on Tuesday afternoon, tired and slightly luggage-less, but having had a great trip, with lots of stories and photos!!

Now I'll be home for at least the next month, which is great, as I can acclimatise to the cold, rain and dark, and actually do some study!!

The Rain in Spain ...

2006-10-21T18:50:00.000+01:00

... appears to be mainly in Madrid! It rained for the entire 4 days we were there, and was also quite cold, so our impressions of the city were definitely altered by that!! We arrived at 7:30 am, dumped luggage, and found that it was cold and raining!! This was a bit of a culture shock after the warmth and sun of Barcelona, and we felt like we were back in Denmark - not an auspicious start to a new city!!!

We went to the Plaza de Sol, wandered, shopped and relaxed, and then made it to our apartment at 2 to check in, to find that the lessee wasn't there, as he was still at the airport! So we found a nearby pub to dry off, and he arrived at 3, but had to clean til 5! The day just appeared to be completey derailed, so our solution was to get haircuts!! My instruction to the hairdresser, whose English wasn't very good, was 'shorter, layered, and whatever you think is best' - and this is it!! I actually really like it, it's quite fun and funky, and I can do a lot with it, so it's nice to have a change!! And it only cost 11 Euros for a cut, wash and blowdry - bargain!!

Madrid was where we met our lovely Canadian girls, Alison and Ashley, who had had their own travel adventure, travelling via Berlin to reach Madrid - their plane in Berlin was boarded by the German police, to arrest one of the passengers!! So they were very glad to be in Spain, so after settling in, we went out for a late dinner, and then off to bed. Our apartment in Madrid was unfortunately not as nice as the one in Barcelona - not only did we not all have our own keys, which meant that we had to constantly stick together in groups to be able to get back into the building, but the shower curtain did nothing to stop the deluge of water on the bathroom floor, which with 7 people and constant rain soon resembed a wading pool! It was also only a one bedroom place, so 5 of us were on mattresses on the living room floor. However, it was close to everything, and it was still nice to have our own place to relax, chat and drink!!

On Wednesday we went to Museo de Prado, which has one of Europe's finest collections of art, including lots of Greco and Roman sculpture, lots of Raphael and Valesquez etc, and lots of religious paintings - there was a lot of Jesus in our day!! We also managed to talk our way into free entry, as students studying in the EU are entitled to it, and as we study in Denmark, which is part of the EU, it all worked out well!!

Then to the Museo de Sophia, which is a modern art museum, where we found some of Picasso and Dali: The Later Years, which complemented our Barcelona art experiences nicely!! We relaxed at home for far too long, venturing out for dinner at midnight, then we wandered to random rock bar til 3am.
My lovely travelling companions - Alison, Ben, Ashley, Charlotte, Jade and me - Mel is taking the photo.

On Thursday, we slept in, apart from Charlotte, who unfortunately had to return to Aarhus for a meeting for a law moot she is participating in, and then had a relaxed tapasy type lunch, with an awesome salad - although I love tapas, it is mainly meat and cheese, so it's nice to see some fruit and vegies every now and then!! We visited the Spanish palace, and a lovely cathedral next door, and did a spot of shopping.

The Palace
More Palace
The Cathedral

Some of the buildings in Madrid are just amazing - they are banks and shopping centres, but so old and ornate!!

It's often hard to get a balance between good Spanish food and a good price, and avoid lots of touristy places, however we did find that often a 12 Euro meal would be good food, mostly Spanish, and definitely a good price - soup, bread, lamb and vegies, a glass of wine, then nice pudding for dessert, all for the equivalent of $20 Aussie dollars - a nice deal!!

Friday was our last day in Madrid, so we found some great Spanish coffee, then made our way to the bus to Granada, which showed "The Terminal" dubbed in Spanish, and then "Ladder 49", which the kind bus driver gave English subtitles for us!! (although this was a terrible movie - very American hero focused, lazy script, lazy acting - relaxing to watch on a bus, though!) We arrived around 10pm in Granada - see next post for the final Spanish instalment!!

Homage to Catalonia

2006-10-21T18:44:00.000+01:00

This is the first instalment of my trip to Spain - a crazy 11 days of sun, art, partying and travel mishaps!!

Firstly, when we arrived at Aarhus airport to catch our plane to London (it's cheaper to go with Ryanair this way - we spend the night in Stansted, then fly out the next morning), Ashley and Alison, 2 of our Canadians, discovered that they had booked the flight for 10:30 am, rather than 10:30pm, so they had missed their flight!! All the flights were booked out, so they eventually ended up catching a bus to Berlin and meeting us in Madrid on the Tuesday, so they missed Barcelona entirely, which was a terrible shame.

However, undaunted the 5 of us (Ben, Mel and I as the Australian contingent, Jade as our Canadian representative, and Charlotte our English rose) continued to Barcelona. It is a gorgeous city, lots of old cobbled streets and old buildings, and a really great feel to it - not too touristy, and a great place to spend time - I could actually envisage living there!

Lovely little cobbled streets

On Friday morning we arrived, found our way from the aiport to the bus, from the bus to the metro, and then the metro to the apartment we had booked. 5 flights of stairs later, we found an amazing apartment awaiting us - 3 bedrooms, 17th century mosaic tiles in the living room, and situated in the centre of everything.
Our apartment - see the lovely old tiles!!

We immediately embraced the Spanish lifestyle, having a siesta before an evening snack from the local market of cheese, ham and bread.Two other Australians, Cam and Craig, had joined us, which actually worked out quite well, as we had 7 in the apartment as originally planned.
Jade, Ben and I went to a concert that night, a Canadian band called Final Fantasy, which is this guy playing the violin and singing - very funky, especially as he had someone moving pictures on an overhead projector - hard to imagine, but very cool to watch! We ended up going out for tapas at 1am - love the Spanish lifestyle!

Saturday we went to the beach! This was particularly exciting, as we had left Aarhus in rain and 16 degrees, and we found Barcelona at 27 degrees and clear blue skies!! So we sunbaked, and the weather was even warm enough to swim! We then meandered our way home via the local markets, where we were able to purchase a great lunch of fresh bread, ham, cheese and fruit for very little money, around 2 Euros each, and eat it relaxing in the apartment. Our beach holiday then embraced some culture, as we visited the Picasso museum after lunch. This museum mostly contained his early work, including sketches and ceramics, which weren't quite what we expected from Picasso, as they were quite traditionalist, however there was still some great work to be seen.

On Saturday night we ate at a Mexican restaurant, with lots of other Spanish people, and after a few drinks at home,we ventured out at 2am to happen upon a cool indie dance club, with lots of great music and lots of Spanish people, so we were able to interact nicely with the locals, not getting home til 6am!

This meant we were quite tired on Sunday, however we had to get up early to go to the Dali museum, which is in Figueres, about 2 hours by train from Barcelona, and as it was closed on Monday, and we would head to Madrid Monday night, Sunday was the day!! It was a bit hard to find the necessary train, our Spanish not being particularly good, however it was well worth the trip, as not only was the countryside beautiful, (see below) but the whole museum building was Daliesque! His surreal perspective on life was great.

The beautiful Spanish countryside

Dali's work

Dali buildings

Dali painting himself

Sunday night we relaxed, and had our first Spanish paella, which was great, until we discovered that the bread we had been given, without ordering, was charged on our bill at 7.50 Euro!!

Monday was unfortunately our last day in Barcelona, and the weather continued warm and lovely. We visited the Arc de Triomf (it appears that Spain has one too!!), and stopped for some lovely thick hot chocolate.
The Arc
We then walked through the town on the 'Gaudi walk', which is basically the main street with lots of buildings which have been designed by Gaudi, an architect/artist from the 19th century who designed very imaginative buildings.

This walk culminated in the Sagrada Familia, which is an unfinished cathedral that dominates the Barcelona landscape, and is a sight to see, with lots of animals and decoration that looks like dripping wax.

We then visited the Park Guelli, which again had lots of Gaudi buildings, as well as great views and an outdoor escalator!!

The lovely view of Barcelona
The outdoor escalator
Me outside a Gaudi building
I want to live in one of these gingerbread houses!!

Barcelona is in the Catalan district of Spain, and they actually speak Catalan, which is a dialect similar to Spanish. On Monday night, we found ourselves in a Catalan restaurant devoted to Harrison Ford, pictures on the walls and everything, with only a Catalan menu, so we just had to guess what we were ordering! It all turned out very nicely, however, and we had a lovely meal!

We then hopped onto the overnight bus for Madrid, which is in the next instalment :-)

The Life of an Exchange Student

2006-10-09T18:06:00.000+01:00

It's hard, really - trying to fit study in between parties, dinners and general merriment!

On Friday night my dorm had what is known as a 'Tour de Chambre'. As I live with 12 people, this is a tradition where everyone creates a different drink in their room, with or without a theme, and then all of us go from room to room, together, drinking in each other's rooms. It's a lot of fun, and a great way to get to know your flatmates!! As 10 out of my 11 other flamates are Danish, it is also a good way to break down the language barrier, as alcohol creates fluency in any language!

So we had a big common dinner beforehand (one of my flatmates is a trainee chef, so she created a lovely chicken dish!), and then drew room numbers out of a bowl to determine in which order we travelled our dorm. We then spent the next 8 hours drinking, dancing, chatting and generally partying! We ended up at 2am in the sauna that our complex has, as one of the former flatmates had also joined us, and as he no longer had a room, he had his drink in the sauna!! Irish coffee in a hot place, not necessarily a good idea!!But it was lots of fun, and will certainly be a memory for me from this exchange - 12 drunk Danes in their underwear in a sauna, throwing water on each other and laughing!

We made it to my room around 2:30am, which I had decorated to look like Sex and the City - my drink was a Cosmopolitan. I'm very proud of my cityscape on my wall - see below!!

So, after a 5:30am sleep time on Saturday, I headed out again on Saturday night, to a communal Italian dinner put on at another college - 90 people, so it was crazy, but quite fun!! And the food was quite good - tiramisu is always at its best when cooked by Italians!

And on Sunday, we had Canadian thanksgiving (which is a month earlier than the American version), but still involves the same amount of eating and drinking! We had turkey, beef, chicken, potatoes, carrots, peas, beans, casserole, apple salad and at least 3 types of dessert - it was great!! For 25 people, also, which made it a very large but enjoyable affair.

So after some more classes this week, I am off to Spain on Thursday night! We will spend 4 days in Barcelona, 4 days in Madrid, and 3 days in Granada, so we should get a variety of lovely Spanish experiences! There are 7 of us in our usual Commonwealth travelling party (Aussies, Canadians and English), so we have even been able to get apartments in each city, which are the same price as hostels, but give us much more freedom for meals, bags and the like!!

I'll try and blog while I'm away, but probably won't be able to put up photos til my return :-)

Amsterdam!

2006-09-29T09:57:00.000+01:00

This sums it up - a clog boat on a canal in Amsterdam!

Sorry for delay in posting - recovering this week from our big weekend in Amsterdam!

We (12 of us - Canadians, English, Australians and a token European, an Austrian) enjoyed a 15 hour train ride to get there, which included 3 different trains, one involving a large number of drunk Danish men in leiderhosen on their way to Oktoberfest! We also stopped in Duisberg in Germany for 2 hours, so I got to experience my first taste of Germany - a nice bakery open at 6am!

Anthony, Ben, Mel and Peter - Aussies en route to Amsterdam!

Once we arrived in Amsterdam, tired but excited, we realised how warm it was (much warmer than Denmark had been - my coat was so not necessary!), and also just how lovely a city it is!

It's a beautiful city, the canals are pretty! We spent the majority of our time there wandering the streets, enjoying the feel and look of this gorgeous city.

Charles and Christoph

We saw the Van Gogh museum, which included some of the famed sunflower pictures, and was set in a lovely park. It still amazes me how all the art we study at school is actually hanging in these European cities, in the originals, just able to be seen!

On the Friday night, we found a restaurant serving steak, chips and salad for 9 Euro - bargain! We then wandered around the red light district, which is certainly something to behold! Basically, all the prostitutes are in windows of little rooms with beds and bathrooms, which they rent and control, and men come along and negotiate with them! It's one of the best and safest ways for women, as they are not at the mercy of people on the street, but it's quite amusing to watch, as these women just sit there in their underwear, sometimes eating! You can't take any photos, cos they get pretty angry, but just imagine a really big street, with a canal in the middle, with strip clubs and porn stores and hundreds of lighted windows on both sides - it's quite cool! And, we went and saw a sex show - hey, in Amsterdam, do as they do! It was amusingly mechanical in a lot of ways, but quite an eye-opening experience!

We also saw Anne Frank's house over the weekend, which is quite moving, as it is actually where she and her family were hiding, so you really see what effect war has on people.

Otherwise, we spent quite a bit of time in the nice little cafes and coffee houses scattered around the canal, just soaking up the atmosphere - it was less of a crazy touristy weekend, and more of a relaxing experience of a city, which was very nice! And my friend Emily is on exchange there, so I got to catch up with her, which was also nice!

After another 15 hour train ride back, we are now home in Aarhus for at least the next 2 weeks, until we go to Spain for the October break! It's actually really nice to be home for a while, so I can do boring things like cook and clean and wash my clothes, oh, yeah, and some of my readings for classes too!

It's pronounced Copen-hay-gen ...

2006-09-19T17:08:00.000+01:00

It appears that we Aussies say it all wrong! I spent the weekend in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, which is 3 hours away from Aarhus by bus - like Sydney to Canberra! However, the bus to Copenhagen goes on a ferry for half the trip, which is much more exciting!

This was an activity organised by the Aarhus Studenterhus, which is the organisation run by students, for Danish and international students. They organise things quite a lot, however the word 'organise' should be used loosely, as frequently the 'guides' know less than we do, and always seem confused and disorganised - such as when we meet on the bus, it is always hard to know who is actually organising us, and what will happen!

That was the case with Copenhagen, where our poor leader Tomas had been thrown in at the last minute, and actually knew very little about Copenhagen - he had to ask locals for directions from the train station to our accomodation, from there to the restaurant, to the bus ... He also knew very little about our accomodation, such as breakfast times, what to do with luggage etc - what was advertised as a 'hotel' was actually a hostel, with three-storey bunk beds! With no ladders, so the boys had to vault up!

But it's all part of the fun of travelling, really, as was our spending both nights wandering the streets of Copenhagen, trying to find a nightclub without exhorbitant entry fees! We spent much time walking in the wrong direction, a small amount of time being converted in the Scientology building, some time with kebabs - a usual night out, really! On the Saturday night we went and saw a Scottish band, Mogwai, perform - very cool, wall of sound type music!

During the day, we saw the Rosenberg palace, Nyhavn (a former fishing village, on a canal - lovely!), the Parliament building (Folketing), the main shopping street (Stroget) and Christiania, which is a little hippie community out of the city centre, self-contained on a lovely bit of riverfront. We also did a little shopping and general wandering around, near the National Theatre and the Town Hall - so all in all, a lot achieved in 2 days, as we arrived Friday night and left Sunday afternoon!

Rosenberg Palace

Nyhavn

Christiania

Last night some of my lovely German friends cooked a traditional German meal, which name I can't spell - meatballs with potatoes, peas and a nice sauce - very yummy!

After a couple of busy days at home here, with uni and socialising and the usual, we are off to Amsterdam this weekend - 11 of us, Canadians, Australians, English and Austrians - it should be lots of fun!

Concerts and Parties - it's a hard life!

2006-09-11T17:23:00.001+01:00

Well, although the title of this post indicates that again, I am spending most of my time partying, you will all be pleased to know that I have actually finally started classes!

I have 9 hours of class a week, conveniently spaced over Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so I still get 4 day weekends, which is most important for all my European travel!

I have International Trade and Finance Law on Tuesday afternoons, which seems midly interesting, the UN Human Rights System on Wednesday morning, which I very much enjoy, and International Copyright at the ungodly hour of 8:15am on Thursday (particularly so as I have to catch the 7:25am bus, and it's still dark!). So far, so good - they all seem manageable, interesting and useful - and they all have oral exams at the end of the year, so a nice change from long written ones! As one of the only native English speakers in all my classes, I am also at an advantage, usually over the lecturer also, which is good, however my lack of knowledge about European law will probably even up the balance!

Last week was the Aarhus Festival, which was themed as "Womania", so lots of events around this topic - unfortunately, due to a combination of classes and a rather nasty cold I have picked up, I didn't actually attend many of the events, but the decorations were interesting - hot pink bras strung everywhere!

I did, however, go to a Danish rock/pop concert last Tuesday (where I think I picked up my cold coming home after midnight!), which was lots of fun - they had decorated with sand and palmtrees, and the bands were actually really good!

On Saturday night I had a belated birthday party, which was a nice relaxed bbq in the afternoon, degenerating into drinking and chatting through the evening. Around 35 people turned up, which is a good number - I've made some really good friends here, as evidenced by the trouble they went to, making me a cake, decorating and even presents! I got a rubber vase, which sounds strange, but is actually a normal vase made of flexible rubbery material - very practical for the travelling girl! And also some photo frames and a thermos, which will also be practical in this cold weather! And three of my Danish flatmates gave me a tape of a Hans Christian Anderson tale in Danish, to practice my language skills!

German Phillip, Canadian Jonathan, Aussie Ben

Aussie Peter, Canadian Jade, German Sonja

My lovely rubber vase!

My Danish flatmates (L-R): Tobias, Mikkel and Peter

All in all, it has been another busy and enjoyable week - I'm hoping to kick this cold soon, particularly as we are heading to Copenhagen this weekend, to see the city, and also see the band Mogwai.

I ate Rudolph!

2006-09-04T18:10:00.000+01:00

We spent Thursday in Bergen, wandering around the old part of the city, Bryggen, and making our way laboriously to this old wooden church outside the main city centre. We had to walk to the bus station, then catch a 20 minute bus, then walk about 20 minutes up a hill, following various helpful Norweigan signs, then a helpful old Norweigan man, before finally reaching this old wooden church, which is around 1000 years old. However, the inside looked rather new, which we discovered was the result of a heavy metal fan burning it down in 1992, seeing it as an insult to the pagan gods! Still a nice church - even the nails are made out of wood!

After more wandering and sightseeing, we took the overnight train back to Oslo - sleeping compartments being waaay too expensive, we opted for the sleeping in your seat option - they give you a free pack with blanket, blow-up pillow, eye mask and ear plugs, so it was actually quite good! And not too bad for sleeping, until some loud people got on at 4am and talked behind us in a foreign language for the next 3 hours - how rude!

We arrived in Oslo, again sleepy, at 6:30am, dumped our bags at the hostel (again, can't check in til 3!), then had a huge buffet breakfast, meeting up with our Swiss friend Matthias, who had spent the previous 2 days in Oslo. We wanted to go to the National Gallery, to see the painted Scream, but it didn't open til 10, and it was around 8:30 at this stage, so instead we went to the graveyard (as you do!), to see Henrik Ibsen (playwright) and Edvard Munch's graves - it was actually quite nice, sunny and pretty!

The painted Scream was quite good, although rather over-hyped for a small painting! The rest of the gallery was quite a mix of modern and old, foreign and Norweigan - some Picasso and Rodin even! We also went to a cool contemporary art museum next door.

Then we started the odyssey that explains the title of this post - in Bergen, we had seen a restaurant serving reindeer, but didn't get around to eating there. Jade decided it was her mission to eat reindeer before we left Norway, so we found a place that did serve it, (after about an hour of asking at various places and being constantly redirected!) and booked it for the evening. We then visited the old Norweigan fort, and watched a huge cruise ship sail away, before collapsing back in our hostel for a much needed nap!

We had a lovely (and rather expensive - as is everything in Norway - it costs around $8 for a Coke!) dinner, and the reindeer was really nice - quite gamey, but the same consistency as steak - well worth the effort!

Our dinner party - L-R: Me, Charlotte, Jade, Matthias

The reindeer itself - yummy!

Saturday morning we started our long journey back to Aarhus - arriving back in Stansted at 3:30pm, but unable to fly out until 7:30am on Sunday, we caught the bus to a nearby town, Bishop's Stortford, and had a nice big Indian meal and a few drinks at the pub, before putting our newly acquired train blankets to good use for our second night sleeping in the airport! This may sound strange to those accustomed to Sydney Airport, however there are always so many people coming in and out, as it is a major transfer hub, that it is quite normal to see clumps of people sleeping all around the airport!

We finally made it home at 12pm on Sunday - it was a great trip, but nice to be home, and also nice that Aarhus actually feels like home!

Planes, Trains and Boats

2006-09-04T17:47:00.000+01:00

Ok, so now I'm home, I can give you the full story from my trip, as I'm not paying exhorbitant prices for internet!

We left Aarhus on Sunday night at 10:30pm, arriving at London Stansted at 11:30pm. Our flight to Oslo wasn't until 6:30am on Monday, so sleeping in the airport occurred - as planned! And for those who think it's strange to fly out of Scandanavia to fly back in, it is, however it's about a third of the price, so worth the extra effort!

We had blankets and jumpers, so we were ok, however we were in a slight draft, so not the best sleep ever - we arrived in Oslo quite groggy! Once we found our hostel, we couldn't check in til 3pm, annoying as it was 12pm, so we changed and went to see the sights!

We went to the Munch Museet, which is the museum created when Edvard Munch, the Norweigan artist, died and left all his stuff to Oslo. His most famous work is 'The Scream' (see us imitating it below!), which he did about 3 paintings of, luckily, as the one at the museum has been stolen, so there's only a sketch there! We discovered later in the week that an actual painting of it is at the National Gallery, but more on that later!

We then wandered around, checked in, then wandered the streets of Oslo, up to the Palace, the Parliament and the University, all lovely old buildings. Oslo itself, however, didn't appear that nice, as there were lots of homeless ppl, and it was quite dirty. Also, the guy checking us in at the hostel was most unhelpful, which can certainly affect your experience of a place!

My most exciting thing, however, was buying my knee high, purple, lace up gumboots - I have been tracking them all through Denmark, but they didn't have my size, however they did have them in Oslo, so the city immediately seemed brighter! These boots will certainly be exceedingly practical in the rainy mass that is Aarhus!

After an early dinner and an early night's sleep, we caught the train to Bergen on Tuesday. This train ride, although lasting 7 hours, was just lovely, as it wound up very steep slopes, past glaciers, waterfalls and lots of amazing rugged scenery - a very enjoyable way to get across the country!

Bergen is a lovely city, old buildings, and a really nice feel to it - the hostel guy was nice, people seemed very friendly, and the city itself, and where we were staying, very close to the harbour, is just gorgeous.

Another early night, cos we had to be on the boat at 8am on Wed! Which we managed quite well, and had an awesome day for my 25th birthday. We started on an express boat, which took us through the widest fjord, which is about 200 km across, and just has great scenery. Then we switched boats mid-fjord (literally, another boat stopped alongside us, and we crossed a gangplank!), to go through the Noerefjord, which is World Heritage listed, and is the narrowest fjord. It was just amazing, like being in 'Lord of the Rings', sailing slowly through these massive mountains, with glaciers and waterfalls on either side - absolutely gorgeous! The pictures certainly don't do it justice, but it was just wonderful!

After that, we stopped at a place called Gudvangen, then took a coach up a very steep road, with 13 bends, so steep that the bus was almost vertical at some points! More amazing scenery, then a stop at the top to look at the beautiful mountains in the distance - words don't really do it justice!

Then back down the other side, then a train back to Bergen - lots of different types of transport! We then went out for dinner for my birthday, to an American steakhouse (which seems a strange choice, but I haven't had proper red meat since I left Sydney, it feels, so it was great to get a huge steak!) The place was really nice, actually, and the waitresses even surprised me with a huge icecream dessert for my birthday - so nice!

We were all too tired to go out, so we went to bed! This post is quite long, so I will do the rest in another post :-)

Did I mention I'm in Norway?

2006-08-29T21:17:00.000+01:00

In case you were wondering what I'm doing for my birthday, I'm spending it in Norway, on a fjord!

Basically, a couple of weeks ago my friends Jade (Canadian) and Charlotte (English) decided to go somewhere for the week's break we have between our language course finishing and uni beginning on the 4th of September, so we found cheap Ryanair flights to Oslo, and here we are!

We spent yesterday in Oslo, which was a little rainy and dirty, but the Munch Museum (he of 'The Scream' painting fame) was quite cool.
Today we took the train for 7 hours to Bergen - the scenery was amazing, glaciers and mountains and fjords, oh my!

Tomorrow we go on a fjord tour, so i will spend my birthday on boats, trains and buses, seeing some of Norway's most beautiful scenery - yay!
Then overnight train back to Oslo on Thursday, Oslo again Friday, then back to Denmark Saturday!

I will write a proper update with photos etc when I return to Denmark, but just thought I should let you know where I am! Oh, and if you want to call/text me for my birthday, probably my Australian number (+61 412 414 534) is best, cos my Danish prepaid is running very low, as it appears I am roaming, having gone to a different country and all!

Legoland!

2006-08-23T17:44:00.000+01:00

I did a few other interesting things this week, such as opening my Danish bank account (I got a card with our opera house on it - thanks Jorn Utzon for engineering that!), paying my rent, making spaghetti sauce for the first time (which is highly challenging without measuring cups or weights!), and seeing some funky live Danish music at our local student house.

On Thursday night, one of the other Aussies, Ben, had his 21st, so we all headed to one of the other colleges, Skjebyparken, for a good old Aussie BBQ, and then some drinking - it was a fun night! Especially as when we tried to buy normal Aussie sausages, you know, the thick ones, we could only get one giant creepy sausage, which dwarfed all others - highly amusing!

However, the highlight of the week was our Saturday excursion to Legoland! I talked about it a lot before I left Australia as one of the exciting things about this Denmark Today course, and we all even made sure we got an early night on Friday night, so we would have a better day on Saturday. And it lived up to expectations!

It turns out there are 4 Legolands, one in Windsor, England, one in California, one in Germany, and the one we went to, the original, in Billund, Denmark, which is about 1 1/2 hours from Aarhus.

Basically, it's like Australia's Wonderland, so some fun rides, lots of stuff aimed at kids, but with the added bonus of lots of things made out of Lego - like whole countries and villages, animals, pirate ships, dragons - it was really cool! And there was this really cute little 4-D movie (the 4th dimension not being time, as is usually thought, but instead things like mist, smoke and droplets of water!), where Lego men and women battled an evil Lego sorcerer - it was just gorgeous!

The rides were fun, water ones with vikings and pirates and various animals, but we avoided some of the dodgier-looking roller coasters!

So we had a fun day, behaving like little kids - I even bought a stuffed toy, a very cute little dragon - I know I've overused the word 'cute' in this post, but it's the most apt word for the situation!

I also finally bought an umbrella this week, after losing mine the week before - a much needed commodity in this crazy Danish weather, which is sunny one moment, pouring the next!

Rain? What is it?

2006-08-13T18:05:00.000+01:00

People here find it amusing that I find rain such a novelty, but as a Sydneysider, and as someone who spent 2 weeks in the brilliant Turkey sunshine, I haven't seen proper rain for about 3 months (London rain certainly doesn't count, much more like very annoying mist!)

It has been raining in buckets on and off for the last few days - lovely to sit inside, chatting to people, eating and relaxing, but rather annoying to go out in! But as Denmark supposedly has rain about every 3 days, I'll have to get used to it!

On Thursday afternoon we went to the Aros Art Museum, which is mostly modern art. I loved it, because I really like a lot of contemporary stuff - there was a really cool room which was set up to play through 24 hours of a living room in 8 minutes - very well done! And there is a 5 metre scuplture by an Australian artist called Boy - disturbingly lifelike!

On Friday we went to what can only be described as a cult - in Denmark, from ages 17 to 20, kids tend to study at a final high school/university type thing called Gymnasium. The Ronde Hojskole, or Folk High School, that we visited on Friday is something that you can do after that, which lasts for about 5 months, and involves learning what you want for the pure joy of it, and meeting other people. It sounds really nice in theory, but the guy who lectured us about it made us sing hymns to start with, kept telling strange stories without endings, and really made the whole experience rather disturbing! Particularly as we then toured the place, to see that it was pretty much like a kid's school camp, which again appeared odd! Basically, the whole thing could have been done better if we had just had a lecture at the university about it, rather than travelling for 40 minutes by bus to this strange cult-like environment!

Saturday was relaxing, after a night in on Friday watching Four Weddings and a Funeral - it's great that everything here is not dubbed, but subtitled, so I can learn strange Danish words as well as still being able to watch things! Our lovely Italian boys cooked us lunch - authentic Italian carbonara! It's a hard life I lead, I know!

But Saturday night was great - we partied at the Student house, where the music was badly dj'ed, with only a couple of good songs to dance to every half an hour, but the strange Danish alcohol was interesting - shots of liquor that tastes like Fisherman's Friend lollies, and is actually called Fishermans! We ended up at McDonald's (an old staple, although much more expensive here!), then at a funny bar which was playing music from the 80's, like 'I'm So Excited"! Unfortunately, trying to catch a taxi home proved difficult, as it turns out that for a city of 300,000 people, there are only 300 taxis, so almost impossible on a Saturday night! As the sun rises so early here, I arrived home just as it was coming up, around 5:30am! But a great night (see the pictures below). Also below are some general pictures of the people I'm spending time with - lots of fun people from all over the world!

Us at the outdoor cinema - Fabrizio, Charlotte, Diego and me.

Marte (Germany) and Fabrizio.

L-R Abi (Spain), Sonja, Alexandra and Magdalena (Germany)

L-R: Hannika (Netherlands), Jade (Canada), Sonja (Germany), Ben (Australia), me, Andreas (Danish).

Jonathan (Canadian), Ben and Anthony (Aussie), me, Charlotte (UK).

Anna (Germany) at the beach.

Ah, Aarhus!

2006-08-09T23:14:00.000+01:00

So, if you were all wondering where I've been for the last week or so, having finished my lovely sunny Turkish adventures, I have finally made it to Denmark!

I was worried that I wouldn't meet people, and would be spending a lot of time in my room alone, but it has proved the complete opposite, as I only get home to sleep for a few hours, before I'm off out again!

Anyway, from the beginning:
I arrived here last Tuesday, the 1st of August, having left Clapham, London at the ungodly hour of 4:45am, to catch my 7:30am flight. Obscene amounts of excess luggage costs later, I arrived in Aarhus, where I was met by my Danish mentor from the law school, Signe. Thank goodness, she had a car, so we grabbed some food, bought me a Danish sim card for my phone (my new number is +45 23 63 83 54 for those interested - but text messages appear quite expensive to Oz, so probably e-mail still the best!), picked up my key from the International Secretariat, and then found my room!

I was quite excited to actually have a bed and a cupboard, having lived on a couch and out of a suitcase for the previous week. My place is nice and quite big - I have my own ensuite bathroom, a bed, desk, coffee table, lounge chair and lamps, and even a little balcony!

I share a kitchen with 11 other people, who I have been slowly meeting over the past few weeks, as they return from holidays or move in - mostly Danish at the moment, who take a while to warm to you, but have been overall quite friendly, a Bosnian girl, and a Californian guy.

I live in a suburb called Brabrand, which is about 20 minutes on the bus from the city, and 15 minutes from the university. The Aarhus Danish people think of this area as the ghetto, because there are a lot of Turkish and Lebanese immigrants out here. However, it is very safe, as there are about 180 other dorms as big as mine in the complex, which means plenty of people around and on the buses, and we even have our own supermarket and bar! I just lock doors and windows when leaving, as most of us do at home anyway, and there is a great cheap fruit & veg market, Bazaar Vest, just down the road - I feel like I'm back in Turkey when I go there!

Anyway, on the first day of my Denmark Today course, which is a language/culture course I'm doing over the next few weeks, I had to go and register for a CPR number, which is like a social security number, needed for opening bank accounts and such, and then register at the Studenterhaus, which is the International Student house which puts on events and parties for all students. While registering there, I met Charlotte, who is 20 and from Leeds, and Fabrizio and Diego, both 25, from Trieste in Italy. They are lovely people, and I have spent the last week paryting with them - the boys cooked us great Italian pasta a couple of nights last week, and as they live about 5 minutes away by bus in the next college, it's easy to catch up!

There are also plenty of German and other exchange students where I live, so I am meeting lots of people every day - there are also quite a few Aussies, Canadians, Spanish, Polish, and even people from Estonia and Slovakia, so I am learning lots about the rest of Europe! I am also realising just how much slang I use in everyday speech, as I have to not only speak much slower (surprise, surprise!), but also in better English - I think it will be good for me!

So my days consist of Danish classes from 9am to 12pm, then lunch, then afternoon activities, such as lectures on the university, and Danish culture such as Greenland, politics, religion etc, or excursions to places like the Town Hall and the Viking museum. Then there is something social on almost every night, so I'm constantly tired, from meeting people and doing things, but having an absolute blast!

On Friday night we went to the Social Bar, which has free beer from 11pm to 12am, and fun pop music to dance to, so it was great fun to party with all the other students.

On Saturday we went to the beach - yay! Europe generally is having a heatwave, and Aarhus has been about 27 degrees all week, and sunny, which is lovely for me! However, the beach had lots of jellyfish, and as I have a healthy Australian fear of things that sting in the surf, I didn't spend too long in the water!

On Monday night we went to a free open air cinema to see "Walk the Line", which was fun, and on Tuesday arvo we went to Ikea - very exciting, I bought useful things like towels and bathmats and proper pillows, so my room is now feeling like home!

Tonight we saw a very black Danish comedy movie, "Adam's Apples" - interesting insights into Danish culture with what they find humourous!

Istanbul, not Constantinople ...

2006-08-07T06:56:00.000+01:00

Yes, I had to make that joke - but I did actually hear that song a few times in Turkey!

After our travel company abandoned us in Turkey - ie they had given us no times or tickets for the theoretical overnight bus that we were to take back to Istanbul, and every time we rang their offices, no answer, we found that the bus was going to take 14 hours, and cost 60 lire, whereas a flight direct would take an hour, and cost 79 lire. So we decided to fly - the best decision ever, as it meant we could relax on Thursday night, pack and shower etc, then fly on Friday morning and arrive actually fresh at Istanbul!

Istanbul was amazing - I'm used to seeing lots of churches around, and hearing bells, but hearing the call to prayer is really moving, and the mosques are just beautiful - we went inside the Blue Mosque, which is one of the biggest/most famous, and it was just gorgeous.

We also went to the Hagia Sophia, a former mosque/church/now museum, but I think the highlight of our day was the Grand Bazaar, this huge market, where bargaining is easy - you just say you don't want something, which half the time is true, and they bend over backwards to lower the price! But it can get quite tiring, as people shout things at you all the time as you walk around.

We had doner kebab for dinner (hey, we're in Turkey! Have to try it - it was quite nice there!), then relaxed, looking at the Mosque by night.

On Saturday, we went to Topkapi Palace, where the Sultans used to live - gorgeous mosaics and lovely gardens.

Then unfortunately we had to leave, back to London, where it was colder and raining - you know your holiday is over!

A couple of barbeques on Sunday/Monday (thankyou both Claires for your kind hospitality!), and then I flew to Denmark on Tuesday!

Fun in the Treehouses and Side

2006-07-31T11:00:00.000+01:00

There are signs at the Kadir Treehouses that say "I came, I saw, I stayed and stayed and stayed and stayed ...", and after planning to spend 2 days there, and actually spending 6, I see exactly what they mean!

I had a lovely time at the Treehouses - although Claire and Andres were on a diving course all day, and Ana and Kieran had gone to Side, and South African Claire had gone back to London, there was plenty to do - I spent most of the days at the beach, relaxing in the sun and the pebbles, and every night dancing and partying hard at the Bull Bar, the cheesy but fun bar at the hostel, with lots of great Turkish pop as well as other fun music!

On the Monday, I went out on the diving boat with Claire & Andres, as their dive was combined with a general boat trip, so I lay around and swam with beautiful views! This photo below is of some of the caves that they were diving in!

It was quite sad leaving the treehouses, as I had really been enjoying the relaxed atmosphere, but I think it was also time to go, as I was craving meat and a hot shower, and a clean bed!

On Tuesday night, Claire & I headed to Side, where Ana and Kieran were with our self-catering apartment - it was quite a mission, as we had to catch a 20 minute bus from the Treehouses to the main road, then a bus to Antalya, about an hour away, then a bus to Side, which was another hour, then a taxi to where we were actually staying! The last part was the most difficult, as Side is mostly still under construction, so our street wasn't finished or named, so directing taxis proved slightly problematic! But we eventually found it, and were able to benefit from dinner with meat, a hot shower, and a clean bed in a room with just the two of us - luxury!

We spent the next two days at Side, which is a cute little touristy town on the coast at the bottom of Turkey - lots of shopping, lovely old ruins, and a resort-type apartment with a pool full of English people on holidays - always a joy!

On the Wednesday night we went to Club Apollo, which is situated within the ruins of the Temple Apollo, and is a very cheesy nightclub, including pole dancers! By the end of the night, we were pole dancing too - lots of fun!

This was where I also heard my favourite pick up line - Turkish men are very forward, but this guy who was dancing near me takes the cake - the entire conversation was "Where are you from?", "Have you got boyfriend?", then after about 10 minutes more of dancing, "Kiss me."!!! I laughed and walked away, but was quite amused by the obvious focus on what he considered the most important information!!!
The last photo was taken on Andres' phone camera, which is why it's a bit blurry :-)

L-R: Claire, Andres, me, Ana, Kieran.

There's no tıme ın Turkey!

2006-07-22T15:06:00.000+01:00

And I mean that - everythıng works on vague tıme schedules, and I haven't been wearıng a watch, and barely know what day ıt ıs, let alone what tıme!

We got to Olympos on Wednesday - basıcally, about 30 years ago an Amerıcan guy buılt a treehouse to lıve ın, and the concept took off, so that now Olympos ıs basıcally all treehouse style accomodatıon, wooden shacks ın trees - ıt's very funky! We're stayıng at Kadır's, whıch ıs the most famous and orıgınal one, and certaınly the most relaxed - ıt's lıke lıvıng ın a hıppıe commune, as there ıs communal breakfast and dınner ıncluded ın the prıce, and lots of bars and hammocks and places to just sıt around and chat to people - very relaxıng!

It's been really nıce to meet people here - there's lots of Aussıes, as there are everywhere, but also lots of Turkısh people and other Europeans. We've met a cool Turkısh famıly, twın sısters and theır brother, who are relaxed and lovely, some nıce Norweıgans, and varıous other Canadıans/Amerıcans.

L-R: Andres, me, Isu, Claire, Esse and Jarn - Isu and Esse are twins, Jarn is their friend.

L-R: Tomas (Norweigan), me, Bilgesu (Turkish brother of twins)

There's plenty to do - we went to the Turkısh baths on Thursday, whıch ınvolved sıttıng ın a rooftop jacuzzı all day, drınkıng, eatıng and swımmıng, and then havıng a tradıtıonal 'hammam' scrub ın a steam room, wıth bubbles and massage - very relaxıng! We partıed hard on Thursday nıght at one of the other treehouses down the road, a bıg open aır dance floor lookıng up at some gorgeous clıffs - thıs really ıs a beautful country!

Then Frıday we went canyonıng - I was quıte apprehensıve, not beıng the sportıest of people, but ıt was great - we hıked for about 20 mınutes, then waded and swam through all these lıttle ınlets and waterfalls and canyons - just gorgeous scenery! I couldn't take my camera cos of the water factor, but Andres has an underwater one, so I'll try and post some of those photos.

Anyway, we were supposed to leave last nıght, to go to a lıttle fıshıng vıllage called Sıde where we've booked an apartment, but Andres and Claıre decıded to stay to do a dıvıng course, and South Afrıcan Claıre had to go home today, so Andres, Claıre and I are spendıng a few extra days here, whıle Ana and Kıeran have gone on ahead to the apartment, and we'll joın them there on Tuesday. It's just such a lovely relaxed atmosphere here, and today I went to the beach, whıch ıs gorgeous, but very pebbly! There's plenty to do here, and lots of people to chat to, so I'm just goıng to chıll out here for the next few days!

So I thınk I'm defınıtely wınnıng at the moment!

"Luxury" overnıght coach ...

2006-07-22T14:30:00.000+01:00

Apologies for lack of communication - hard to blog on a boat! Also, as I dıdn't bring my laptop to Turkey, the photographs that accompany these anecdotes won't appear for another week!

So, after spending a couple of days relaxing with Ana and her family in Dartford, and foolishly believing that London summer would stay warm, we flew to Istanbul on Saturday the 15th. "We" being my Columbian friend Ana and her brother Andres, Ana's English boyfriend Kieran, her Malaysian/Aussie friend Claire, and another Claire, from South Africa. So between the 6 of us, we are quite a United Nations!

Arriving in İstanbul, we expected to be met by someone from the tour company we had organised with, to take us to our overnight luxury coach to Fetiye, where we would meet the boat. However, we were met by someone who directed us to a cab, and the coach was anything but luxurious - 15 hours, very cramped, constantly being asked for tickets, the excitement of pit toilets and strange frothy yoghurt/water drinks,
and unexpectedly having to change coaches at 4am - ah, the fun! I did feel that we were really travelling, however, but as we were not met at Fetiye either, and had to spend an hour searching for our boat, I was certainly feelıng that the world was winning!

However, our luck prevailed, we found the boat, and commenced a 4 day boat trip that was just the most amazing fun. We had a cool Turkish crew, ıncludıng a captain, Ozzie, who enjoyed shoutıng hıs name to get the "Oi Oi Oi" response, as well as ringing the boat's bell at various hours of day and night and shouting "Don't Sleep!", which has become our catchcry. He also created a drink containing beer, wine and other unıdentified ıngredients whıch he labelled 'diesel', which certainly whiled away Sunday nıght! At about mıdnıght on Sunday, he decıded ıt was tıme to play 'Aqua Park', whıch ınvolved our dınner table on deck and hımself beıng covered wıth detergent, then tıppıng the table to the edge of the boat so as to slıde off ınto the water - very amusıng to watch!

The Med ıs just amazingly beautıful, and there is nothing quite as relaxing as sunbaking, jumping into the water when hot, snorkelling, and having delicious healthy meals served to you! We were also lucky to only have the 6 of us on the boat, so we avoided having 30 other bogans aboard, so ıt was like our own private trip! So hot, that we just slept out on deck on mattresses each nıght - amazıng wakıng up to the sunrıse over the clıffs and beaches each mornıng!

The world tried to get its own back, of course, with our engine breaking down the fırst evenıng, so we were stranded at Kalkan for all of Monday - but it's really not too stressful being stranded ın the middle of the Med!
Monday nıght, once the engine was fınally fıxed, we went to Kaş (pronouced 'Cash'), which had a lovely ancient ampitheatre and a great feel to it.

On Tuesday we sailed past the sunken cıty of Kekova, and then settled ın Gokoye Bay, which was just gorgeous. That nıght, we were taken to a lıttle ısland wıth a cheesy bar/shack called the Smuggler's Inn, where we drank and danced with people from other boats ın the area - lots of fun!

On Wednesday we sadly had to leave our boat, after havıng such fun, for our next adventure ın Olympos, whıch I will put ın a separate post!

She's Left Home!!!

2006-07-11T01:48:00.000+01:00

I'm writing this from my laptop at London Bridge Station in London - I love wireless internet!

So, I've made it to London - the flight was fine, and then the fun really started!

The woman at immigration at Heathrow told me off for not having the precise address of the place I'm staying at on my immigration card - London immigration is always so mean!

Then at the train station I found that the thirty pounds I had found in my room when cleaning up were actually now out of date, so no longer accepted as currency!

But then on the up side, I found my way via the Tube to London Bridge, including a number of changes and long corridors dragging my bag, and a nice guard helped carry my bags down the stairs!
And I've worked out wireless on my internet, and found the meeting spot to meet Ana, so all is now going well!

So, the score as I see it is - World: 2; Laura: 3. The odds are still working in my favour!

She's Leaving Home ...

2006-06-17T06:44:00.000+01:00

Hello all!

Welcome to my blog, which will keep you regularly up to date with my travel adventures, with photos, stories and the like.

I will also keep a running tally on who is winning, me or the world!

I leave the country on the 10th of July, heading to London, then Turkey for two weeks, stopping at the Cartier Polo Match in London on the 30th of July, and then off to the University of Aarhus in Denmark on the 1st of August.

The most important information at the moment is my farewell:
When: from 2pm til late late late, Saturday, 8th July
Where: My mum's new place - 11/75-79 Darling Point Rd, Darling Point.
Why: To catch up, have a few laughs, drinks, food and look at the lovely view of the harbour!

I really hope to see you all at some stage over the afternoon/evening.