Wrapping Up

My last and final blog will be a short one, well actually my shortest blog ever. Just a quick wrap up of everything I've put together since I've been home for the summer.

1. I've scrap-booked! Do ask to see it, I would love to show you the condensed version of my time abroad. I'm pretty proud of it (and thanks to everyone who helped). I appreciate people who scrapbook so much more now, it is very time consuming and can be costly. It will be awhile before I scrapbook again. 

2. All of my pictures are officially on Facebook (and I never want to take that many pictures again). But I also made two animated picture slideshows that are pretty sweet if I must say so myself (and they feature some of my favorite music from abroad):

• Denmark in 10 Minutes
• Traveling Through the Rest of Europe

3. I've made a google map of all the places I've been in my life and places I wish to visit/revisit. Check it out here!

And after being back in the US for the past three months, I can safely say my feet have recovered from the extreme amount of walking, no more blisters! But my Facebook ads are still in Danish.

As for culture shock, haven't had much of it :) The only thing I noticed is that sometimes I feel funny when I jay walk, but I'm slowly realizing that I have the right of way again. And lastly, I miss my Carlsberg beer, still gotta find an American version I enjoy.

And that's all folks, thanks for keeping up with my lengthy blogs and going on this adventure with me!

The Final Weeks in Denmark

So while I have finally caught up with all my blogs about traveling through Europe, I have neglected Denmark. And obviously I can't write about every day, not only because of the length but I can't remember nearly everything. And yes this entire blog site was supposed to focus on Denmark but I hope my pictures, video, and scrapbook can do it justice instead.

So for my final update about my time in Copenhagen there were a few big/interesting things I did and experienced:

Canal Tour, April 21st:

See there are modern buildings in Europe.

With my study abroad program DIS, you could join a program called the Buddy Network. Basically you get to hang out, meet, and become friends with Danes your age because that's not such an easy feat. It was a great decision to join and I'm glad Liz was invited into our group/got to join a network, ha. Anyways on this event we took a canal tour in Copenhagen combined with multiple Buddy Networks. It was a gorgeous view and they narrated what we passed by altho I couldn't hear the leader. But on a side note, they hired drag queens to be the ship attendants and pass out snacks and drinks. Afterwards we grabbed dinner, a bottle of wine, and headed to Kulor bar to celebrate the bar's birthday. They had free drinks at the bar!

Liz and I on the canal tour!

The Hunger Games, April 25th:
I'm sure your wondering what the hell I would have to say about this, but it was the only movie I saw in Denmark at a theater. Now it was in English with Danish subtitles. Well Liz and I eventually figured out how to get our tickets and the movie begin. I remember being overwhelmed in the movie by all the English. I wasn't used to being able to understand everything again. This happened again in Ireland when the Disney channel was on in English. But it's safe to say my ears and brain are used to English again.

Danish Labor Day, May 1st:
The Danes take celebrating their labor day to a new level. Unfortunately I had a class presentation I could not skip and work, but I got to show up at the tail end of the celebrations. Basically the Danes take full advantage of their open containers laws and if the weather is right, they go to a park and drink and socialize with friends. There are even some performances and the park is jammed packed. Well after I found the park by following drunk Danes in the wrong direction for awhile, I showed up and saw a lot of sunburnt danes who were falling over, peeing in the street, and eating food off the ground. Wow. All of this was a sight in and of itself, there were even portable urinals set up, apparently the government was prepared for this. And the homeless got a shit load of cans and bottles to recycle.I was just there for about an hour with friends and watching all the crazy people, but around dinner time everyone started to leave. Day drinking had taken it's toll on the Danes.

This is how the Danes do labor day.

Now getting home was a story in itself and extreme struggle. Usually it would take me about 25minutes to get home, not today. It was over 2.5 hours. First I got to sit at Osterport train station for over 40 minuets waiting for a freakin train. When everyone finally got on it, we had to sit on the aisle floors because it was so filled. From there the train didn't just go, it stopped and started way too many times for way to long. Finally I got to Klampenborg Station where the train stopped for good. Now this happens on Denmark on a biweekly basis, I believe. But it was the first time I experienced it. Someone had committed suicide on the tracks. Well of course all the announcements were in Danish so I had to idea what was going on until I asked a young lady about the same age as me. She then proceeded to have a morbid conversation on what's the best way to commit suicide. Anyways, busses were sent to take us to the next working train station, thankfully my own: Rungsted Kyst. It took forever for the busses to appear and they were so packed that I didn't get on the first round of busses. 

Carlsberg Brewery, May 9th:

All unopened bottles from around the world.

This morning Chris and I headed to the Carlsberg Brewery. Now Carlsberg is Denmark's pride and joy and it's pretty big within Europe. If you find it in America, please buy it and invite me over, thanks. Anyways it was cool to see all the old beer bottles and how they use to transport the beer with big horses from Western Denmark (Jutland). If you ever see Elephant statues or things around Copenhagen it's because of Carlsberg. Also, Carlsberg has been through many logos and mottos. One logo used to be a slightly changed version of the swastika. One motto used to be "Probably the best beer in the world." The Danes are modest people. Anyways we got two free beers at the end of our self guided tour before heading to the International Businness program social for more beer and dinner.

Did I mention that they have a play ground too?

Tivoli and Medina, May 11th:
Now this might be my number one recommendation to do in Denmark, but of course I've already written about this. This amusement park is gorgeous and amazing! What I didn't already say about this is that there is this one ride that is 4Gs and it might be the most intense ride I have ever been on. It's called Vertigo and is a flight stimulation as it goes in big circles at high speeds. This line was probably over an hour long wait, not because it was super busy. But because only one plane was working and then there were technical issues with the one that was working. So Laura and I were the second group to ride it after it was fixed and I was a little hesitant. I think I screamed the entire time and the Danish guys next to us did not like that, well suck it. Anyways when trying to get off the ride we were stumbling and my face was permanently pushed back. It was intense.

Holy cow it goes fast.

Medina, Medina, Welcome to Medina!

Tivoli also does concerts on Fridays that are free if you get in before a certain time, and the day I was there was Medina! She is super popular is basically the Lady Gaga of Denmark. There were young and old people all around, people drinking 10kr beer (~2$), and of course the gorgeous lights of Tivoli shown at night. The concert was amazing, although it was quite cold. Now I don't know if it's just the family atmosphere of Tivoli or what, but the Danes don't sing along or dance. Well we did.

DIS Picnic, May 13th:
It took until this date for me to finally get completely lost in Copenhagen. But first the picnic was a great time because we got to visit with friends and their families but also see the beach and enjoy our last times together as the semester wound down. I intended to leave the picnic and head to the Black Diamond (a library) to study for finals. I took the metro to get close to the library, but upon leaving the metro station I took the wrong turn. I thought and should have been able to recognize the area when I was close to the library, but when I saw the scenic Nyhavn (colorful houses on the harbor) I should have stopped and turned around. OR at least taken out my map. Nope I continued walking until I was sure I went the wrong way and finally stopped at a bus stop. I waited there for at least 20 minutes, but no bus showed up and I have no idea why. Anyways I ended up at the Osterport Train Station, about 1.6 kilometers of being lost. Anyways I didn't feel nervous, instead I got to enjoy the views, ruin my boots some more, and avoid the library. So I ended up studying a home. But I redeemed myself and made it to the Black Diamond a few days later. Success.

A hot dog cart getting pulled down the road, that's what I saw.

Botanical Gardens, May 14th:
So I decided to head into the city early before work and walk through the botanical gardens literately right next to our favorite Norreport Station. It was really pretty and it reinforced my obsession with flowers. I probably looked like a goofball taking a picture of everything, but that's alright.

These flowers are actual tiny.

Roskilde and Tourist Activities, May 15th:
This was only the second time I spent the whole day or large amount of the day being a tourist. And this time I was alone for a large amount of it. Now Roskilde is on the top tier of my recommendations for Denmark. It's one of my 3 favorite buildings in Europe. Before stopping at this cathedral I went into Tiger, a local shop that sells the most random things and I got some free stickers there, score! Now I thought the cathedral was amazing from the outside... and then I went inside. Wow, all I can say is holy moly, oh my gosh. Gorgeous. Beautiful stained glassed windows and adornments, and many royals are buried there and their coffins are beautiful.

Roskilde Cathedral

Some royals.

Just part of the inside.

I thought they would be bigger.

Next on the stop was the Viking Museum that is based on the fjord in the town of Roskilde. While I enjoyed my lunch on a bench and watched some Danes move a viking ship, I didn't actually go in and pay for the museum, which if you know me at all is completely normal. Not a big museum fan and I'm way too cheap to spend money on old stuff. Anyways I did walk around some cool reconstructions of the ships. All in all, Roskilde was great, there were so many gorgeous flowers and I'm sad I didn't charge my camera before I came. Another thing about Roskilde is that all the doors, like normal looking but fancy house doors were automatic. So they would swing open when you got close... I also saw a biker signaling in a roundabout, idk where he thought he was going... it's a circle.

For the afternoon I meet Chris in Copenhagen and we headed to the harbor to check out some trampolines that were put in the ground! We also went to a public microphone where you shout out anything and people choose if they agree with you or not by standing in the appropriate circle painted on the ground, called a Speaker Box, google it. Next was the main even, riding a water bus. We had to do this since our transportation passes covered it. Well it was super slow and we got off at the next stop because we didn't want to have a long wait again to catch one back.

They only come out when the weather is nice.

"I've got my sunglasses on"

The last part of my day was taking advantage of the blue skies and climbing the Church of Our Savior spire! It was really curvy and awesome view of the city. Again it's on the top of my Denmark list of things to see and do. Thanks again Chris for letting me borrow your camera.

Seriously, go.

Distortion, May 30th:

Distortion = Amazing

After traveling through Spain, Portugal and Ireland, Liz and I arrived back in Copenhagen at the best time. Just in time for Distortion! It is a street party that takes place in a different area of Copenhagen each evening and night (called the bros). Before I get to that experience though, there were a few struggles. I found my hostel no problem, but I wanted to make the most out of my bus pass and take a bus closer to DIS instead of a 20 minute walk. Well when the bus finally came it didn't go on it's normal route because of the street party, so I ended up walking anyways. After that waste of time, I finally meet Liz at DIS to pickup my suitcase and grab some food. Rolling my suitcase through crowds of people was a little awkward but we finally made it to a bus where we snuck pass the driver without really showing our expired bus passes. Well again the routes were screwed up and we went to far and ended up walking more. That's what we get for being lazy.

Anyways we finally got everything to the hostel and got ready before heading out to Distortion and picking up some wine. Now the street party was located in the heart of Copenhagen where I spent most of my time throughout the semester. Never have I seen the streets so packed with people. DJ's were set up in the street, rave music blaring, people dancing, and the public urinals made their appearance again. Liz and I even saw our oldest host brother Johan walking down the street. He said the next nights party would be the best but unfortunately I had to be up at 4am the next day to catch a flight back home.  Eventually we meet some Danish friends and enjoyed the last of Distortion before heading to good ol Billy Booze for our final time.

All in all, my last few weeks in Denmark were jammed packed and I would do it all over again. Vi ses Denmark (see you later).

Danes, Danish, and Denmark

So my roommates and I had some running lists on google docs. This one is what we noticed about the Danes. Not meant to offend anyone and obviously this doesn't apply to every dane. But I hope this gives you an idea about our time in Denmark and interacting with the Danes.

The Danes

1. Waiting for cross walk lights. No jay walking or be prepared to get yanked back in extreme cases.
2. Don’t smile in passing.
3. Don’t ask how are you.
4. Offended if you admire their children or dogs.
5. Biking in heels, dresses, and suits.
6. Leaving babies/children outside shops in their strollers.
7. Bikers with lights, bells, and hand singles (they don’t care if you are a causality).
8. Bikes, People, Cars. That's the order of the right of way.
9. People running you over/bumping into you when walking.
10. Don’t say excuse me or sorry unless they have to. Unnskyld.
11. No direct English translation for the word please.
12. Don’t eat leftovers for lunch.
13. Don’t eat chips with their sandwiches.
14. Don’t snack. EVER.
15. Fork in the left hand, knife in the right (gotta keep your weapon in your dominate hand).
16. Fork and Knife placed in time 4:20 to say your done eating.
17. No to-go bags from restaurants.
18. Don’t ask for modifications on food orders.
19. Taking the females last name in marriage more often then the US.
20. Wearing the wedding ring on their right ring finer.
21. Doors open in the wrong way.
22. Unlock doors to leave the building by twisting a lock or pushing a button.
23. Sarcasm. Everyone is so sarcastic.
24. No sweatpants (UPDATE: Sweatpants EVERYWHERE in the spring, but two sizes too small).
25. Quiet on the bus/train.
26. Tap water isn’t free.
27. More often women approach men in the bars. And it's common for the ladies to buy a round.
28. Open Container Laws: drinking in public, even at 8am.
29. Starting the night at 2 or 3am.
30. Warming up = pregaming
31. Coat check at the bars. Not fun.
32. Being so knowledgeable about their history.
33. Shopping streets instead of malls - EXCEPT on the outskirts.
34. Where are the recycling bins?
35. More importantly, where are the water fountains?
36. No even more important, where are the free bathrooms?
37. Greenlandic homeless people sleeping on the streets (always with dogs).
38. Love music in front of city hall or some form of native music!
39. The chirping bird speaker on the way to Stroget.
40. Guys only own and wear tight pants.
41. Guy shorts: 2 inches too shot and rolled up, always tan colored.
42. Teenage girls holding hands in the street.
43. No SUVs
44. Danes walking extremely close in your personal bubble space.
45. Horse drawn buggies delivering beer.

Ireland: The Land of Flowers and Redheads

On May 26th Liz and I landed in Ireland, our last country to visit before heading back to Denmark and finally the US. Now we landed in Dublin around 12:30am and booked it to catch a bus into the city. From just the short walk to our hostel, we could tell we liked Ireland already. People were just getting out from the bars and looked like they were having a blast.

Welcome to Ireland

The hostel we stayed at was a 24 mixed dorm, the largest room we have stayed in. It wasn’t too bad and we tried not to wake people as we got ready for bed. Liz’s stupid shamwow towel was hanging over the bunk bed rail and that thing smelt horrible. Seriously, don’t buy one of those.

May 27th
The next morning we showered and got ready to head out. We had free breakfast at the hostel where we meet a redheaded Irish guy with a very thick accent. It was hard to understand him but it was apparent that Irish people were very friendly and nice. And from this morning on I should have counted all the red heads we saw. I mean they were everywhere!

The Luas

From there we hopped on their public transit system called the Luas to the Dublin central train station where we bought student rate tickets to Cork, Ireland. It was about a 3-hour train ride through gorgeous and rolling green hills. Once in Cork we found our hostel that was literally right across the street from the Cork train station: Aaran’s Hostel. 

Well this hostel was more of a converted home. So we walked right in and no one was there. So after a confused couple of minutes Liz and I dropped of our bags in the living room, found a map, signed our names on the list and headed out to explore. From our research in booking this hostel we knew we weren’t to far from the city center. So we decided to head left out of the hostel. We kept walking and saw nothing but colorful houses and flowers as we walked along the river. Soon we started seeing industrial buildings. Well we were walking out of Cork, whoops. After figuring this out we turned around and headed back to the hostel to hopefully check in for real this time. 

That totally looks like a city, right?

Back at the hostel it turned out the lady left to grab a snack at the train station and the door wasn’t supposed to be unlocked. Once our bags were in our room we headed back out to explore again. This time we turned right out of the hostel with free walking tour maps that our oh so friendly hostel owner gave us. As we were walking into the city, another guy named Ryan staying at the same hostel started talking to us and decided to come explore with us. Ryan dropped his job as a substitute teacher to travel northern Europe as he was a history buff. He was hoping to eventually find a job and travel for 9 months in Europe, crazy.

Cork, Ireland

Next was a typical Leslee moment. As we were walking we passed an elderly Irish man as it was starting to rain. He turned to me and said something that I of course couldn’t understand. After asking him to repeat it 2 more times I just said “Sorry I only speak English” and smiled and kept on walking. A couple of hours later Liz so kindly informed me that he was saying “Trying to kept out of the rain?” Man did I feel brilliant then. So lesson learned, the Irish are all speaking English NOT Gaelic. 

On our self guided tour we say many gorgeous churches, buildings, statues, squares, arches, and bridges. Oh and Carlsberg advertisements on almost every restaurant, it was like we were back in Denmark. Carlsberg sponsors the Irish soccer team. Now it was dinnertime and we wanted something cheap, good, and Irish. We stumbled upon the The Fish Wife where we had yummy fish and chips for a student price! 

Yumm

Next on the stop was a liquor store. My cousin Dana had studied abroad in Cork and gave us a bunch of recommendations and one was to try the Bulmers cider. So we picked up one of each flavor and split it between the three of us while watching TV and visiting with the other people at the hostel.

Rum and Coke in a can? That's a first.

Kissing the Blarney Stone

Now this hostel was packed with Minnesotans. Weird. What was even weirder was that they were all flippin Tommies. I mean my whole room was filled with Tommies except for like 3 people. Anyways, we showered and headed to bed as the next day was our last in Cork.

May 28th
Early next morning we jumped on a bus and headed to the Blarney Castle. It was a little rainy but it was so green with many pretty flowers. For those of yall who aren’t familiar with the Blarney Castle you are supposed to kiss the Blarney stone to have eloquent speaking endowed upon you. The stone is on the roof and you have to lean over the edge to kiss it. Before we went to the stone we walked into the dungeons, which was a tiny tunnel that used to hold the water supply. Next we decide to head to the stone before it got too busy (even though the line was long already). Waiting in line you got to see the rooms and informational signs. Once on top it was a gorgeous view of the surrounding area that was of course pure green. So when kissing the stone a worker holds you and if you do fall there is a cage below to catch you, but I doubt that happens. You really have to lean your head back to kiss the stone and I think I missed it by half an inch but I was getting nervous and didn’t want to hold up the line. Liz thinks she also missed it, but hey we got the experience! Well one of the first things I said after kissing the stone was “I feel all eloquent and shit”. So I’m not sure it exactly worked for me, ha. 

Whoops Ireland

Next we went into the adjacent poison gardens where they had Harry Potter plants such as Mandrake and Wolfsbane. They also had Marijuana but there was a sign underneath it saying the police seized it and they hoped to have it back soon. We got a good laugh out of that. Next was the Wishing Steps where there were more flowers (sorry Liz) and a myth that if you walked up and down these stairs, backwards, with your eyes closed while thinking of a wish it would be granted in a year. After that we started heading out but first stopped to snack on some “chips” we bought in Cork the day before. Well it turns out they were more of a sweet cereal and that we were at an Ethiopian grocery store, so no wonder we couldn’t find normal food. 

Now Mahoney is an Irish last name and in the Blarney gift shop that were lots of O’Mahoney family crest information and things. Anyways we spent just over half a day at Blarney before heading back to Cork.

In Cork we headed to the gorgeous English Market to wonder around and eat. They had lots of sausages places where Liz got a great deal on a meal. I headed to O’Brians, I think it’s like a bagel sandwich chain, still yummy.

The English Market

Our next destination was the Shandon Church, one of my all time favorite experiences in Ireland. First off this church has a golden salmon on top of it’s steeple representing the fishing River Lee. At the church you can pay to walk up and see a view of hilly Cork AND ring the bells! Liz and I spent a good half hour ringing the bells. It is set up real cool with the bell ropes labeled 1-8 and you pull the corresponding ropes to play a song. And pulling those ropes isn’t the easiest thing, you gotta use some muscle. The songs like Kumbaya, When the Saints Go Marching In, etc are located in a book and labeled with number 1-8. I’m sure the neighbors get real annoyed with the constant bell ringing. 

So much fun!

After wondering past a graveyard (Liz), another church, and some colorful houses, we headed back into the center of the city. We then worked our way to the gorgeous and impressive St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral. While we didn’t pay to go in we snuck a look inside to see the pretty stained glass windows. Next we headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags and catch a train to Dublin. 

Liz loves these "chips"

Once in Dublin we checked into our hostel (Abigail’s Hostel) and dropped our bags off before heading to the Temple Bar area for food and entertainment. After eating at some grocery store chain we grabbed some cheap ice cream and sat outside of the Temple Bar and listened to some awesome Irish music until around midnight when he finished up. This area was so lively and seemed like a bunch of fun with live music! 

Dublin at night. So pretty.

May 29th
The next morning we enjoyed free breakfast before trying to explore Dublin. We knew that we wanted to do the Guinness or Jameson tour but we couldn’t decide. So first we headed to the Trinity College where we didn’t know what to look at. So we left and headed to find the Dublin castle and some churches. But first we needed some snacks and I decided to buy and return some 2 Euro headphones that didn’t work. Lesson learned again. 

Trinity College... idk what this is.

Anyways we thought we snuck into the castle through the coffee shop, but it turns out that part was free which was just a garden and small walking path. Well we were too cheap to see the rest and went to find some church, but at this point in our travel we were burnt out on gorgeous churches and walking around aimlessly. 

Don't know what the path is for either...

After deciding on the Guinness Brewery after taking into account recommendations from the hostel workers, we headed there. A great thing about that the Irish is that everyone is so friendly. If we were standing on a corner looking at the map, often times an elderly man would point out the right direction for us. This happened multiple times and it just made me fall in love with Ireland more and more.

The Guinness Brewery was very impressive. Sorry Carlsberg. The Brewery was huge, gorgeous, and informative in a fun way! Part of the brewery was shaped as a giant pint! Arthur Guinness who started making the dark Guinness beer signed a 9,000 year lease to keep making this stuff. So it isn’t going no where. The brewery had waterfalls, movies, quiz’s, and even an area to see if any of your family members worked for Guinness. One of my favorite parts was learning how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness. It involved filling the glass half way and letting it sit until it was dark and then topping it off with a layer of foam to keep the flavor in. We even got certificates when we finished! 

Well this brewery tour includes one pint of beer. Well before we even got started on the tour a young guy gave us his drink ticket… I guess we look like college students. We also got free samples of beer and got to drink the pint we poured. On the top floor (Sky Lounge) overlooking the city of Dublin we used our last drink ticket and the receipt stub to get more beer. The guy wasn’t even checking the tickets. So instead of 1 beer included we got over 2, ha. And these are strong dark beers. The guy who gave us our last one even drew cloverleaves in the foam! I actually enjoyed the beer, it had a weird after taste at first but now I’m a big fan. 

The best brewery I've been to.

Well after leaving we still had part of the afternoon left so we decided to hit the Jameson Distillery. We made it in time to sign up for the last whiskey tour at 6pm. So we had some time to kill and snack since we didn’t get lunch. Now the tour wasn’t nearly as impressive as Guinness because it was a fast guided tour without much interaction. But hey we learned some cool things. Fun fact number one is that the barrels they use to age the whiskey are from Jerez de la Frontera, Spain where Liz and I stayed with Sean just a week ago. Funny how everything connects. They say that the whisky that leaks goes to heaven and makes happy angels and all the extra whisky goes to cows and makes happy cows. Also the same company that owns Jameson also owns Absolut Vodka. 

Whisky Time

At the end of the tour we all got a whisky drink. I went exotic and had it with cranberry while Liz had the classic mixture with a splash of water. Liz also volunteered and was selected to do a blind whisky tasting test of Irish, American, and Scottish whisky. I also tasted them and have to agree that the triple distilled Jameson whisky beat the rest. From this experience I learned that I am not the biggest whisky fan and I think Liz could say the same.

Well Liz and I were felling good after the Guinness and Jameson tour and headed back to the hostel for a quick nap. For once no one was in the room, but I mean we were only sharing the room with one other Asian guy. But when we woke up, two punk rocker type of guys from Australia were moving in. They had traveled all around the US. They had Hawaii towels and told us ridicules stories about partying with frat guys on the East Coast.

Well our last adventure was actually going into the Temple Bar. Liz got a beer, Guinness of course and we enjoyed listening to some more amazing live music. I’m a sucker for the traditional Irish songs. 

And their flowers were amazing!

May 30th
The next morning we headed to the airport for our final day and a half in Copenhagen before heading home.

Ireland was amazing. I would love to go back and see the west coast. Some things I noticed about the Irish and Ireland was that there are lots of red heads and churches, they wear a lot of green and blue, the door handles are in the middle of the door, plenty of flowers, the people are sunburnt, and the country is just colorful and the people friendly. No complaints. 

Portugal: A New Favorite

Next on the stop was Portugal. One of my new favorite countries. But just getting there was quite an experience.

We left Sevilla, Spain on May 24th around midnight on an overnight bus. Thanks to Sean and his girlfriend’s experience we avoided going back to Madrid and catching a train therefore saving time and money. First off we were supposed to catch the 11:30pm bus but we were at the wrong station so we got on at the 12:00am time. When we got on the bus it was crowded to say the least and by the time everyone boarded there were no open seats. Since two neighboring seats weren’t open, Liz and I decided to sit in the very back of the coach bus. You know where it is one long row, bad idea. We should of just split up and sat on aisle seats. That whole row became filled and the seats don’t recline. We made friends with a newly wed American couple who were on their honeymoon. They were on the other side of the row and in-between us was an older, heavier Spanish or Portuguese lady. Not a big deal except that her phone range every 2 minutes and these southern Europeans aren’t like the Danes. Between texting and loud phone calls it looked to be a very peaceful ride. Thank goodness the bus stopped at random towns and people got off, so eventually the lady moved and we had one open seat between us. While Liz slept I had hot and cold flashes the entire time and my stomach did not like the ride. Usually I fall asleep in moving vehicles really easy and fall asleep before take off in a plane and wake up in the air, but it wasn’t so easy this time.

May 25th
Well we arrived in Lisbon, Portugal in the dead of the morning around 6am, or so we thought. The entire train and bus station was dark, nothing was open. Liz and I were so confused because don’t people travel around 6am there? Well it turns out Portugal is an hour behind and it was only 5am. And I so confidently told the American couple it was the same time zone, whoops. Well we tried to follow our directions to get to the hostel from the metro but the metro was still closed and two girls walking past a bunch of sleeping homeless in the metro station wasn’t a good idea. So we got out of there and wondered around the train station. Eventually we found a bus stop just outside the station and only had to wait 20 minutes in the cold for it to come, and we were lucky to have the right amount of coins between the two of us to ride it. Of course we couldn’t see the bus stops and made friends with the driver and he told us where to get off even though we didn’t speak the same language. A common theme with bus drivers is that they often don’t speak English. Sucks for us.

Getting off the bus, the sun was just coming up and it was gorgeous. We walked through this amazing arch and stumbled into the museum of art, which was decorated with post it notes!

Check out that sky.

They are all post it notes.

Well the hostel was just around the corner, perfect location. Now we stayed at the Yes! Lisbon hostel. This was by far the best hostel I have ever stayed at. Free Wi-Fi, breakfast, awesome staff, nice rooms, and great deals! After checking in they allowed us to go up to our room already, which is unheard of. Usually we would just drop off our bags and go wonder around until 2pm. Instead we got to shower and take a nap until 9am ish. We then went down to breakfast and continued our already eventful day.

We spent the day wondering around with my top 10 list as a guide. Our first stop with a famous elevator called Santa Justa. It was modeled after the Eiffel tower because the architect who designed it was an apprentice for the guy how designed the Eiffel tower. Before going up the elevator we found a metro station and put some money on the metro cards as the hostel workers advised. We also walked through Plaza de Rossio.before standing in line for the elevator. Now Lisbon, Portugal’s capital is made up of 7 hills and surrounded by a river that leads to the North Atlantic Ocean.

The Elevator.

This is brilliance.

We then wondered back down one of the hills and headed to the coast to get a view. Afterwards we tried to find the historic tram 28 to take us to the historic side of the city: Santa Maria de Belem. We soon figured out that we walked way to far in the wrong direction because eventually we didn’t see the tramlines over the streets anymore. And it turns out the buses didn’t go over there because of the construction going on. We turned around and finally caught a bus, but here we came up with the best idea for traveling around Europe: take a picture of the bus stop list. Then you know when to press the stop button and avoid missing your stop.

Out first stop was the bakery shop called: Pasteis de Belem. These pastries were the best I have ever had. Sorry Denmark. After waiting in line we entered the shop which we though was tiny, but nope it was huge and just a bunch of happy faces eating these pastries. Just a block away was a gorgeous monastery, one of my three favorite buildings in Europe. The nuns there developed the recipes for the pastries.

Seriously Yummy.

The monastery, called Jeronimos, was huge and the inside was gorgeous. We didn’t stay there long but there were cool tombs of famous Portuguese poets and sea captions. We then checked out a big fountain and finally two statues. After passing a harbor and taking some pictures on two fake bulls we headed to the Torre de Belem an awesome tower on the coast. On our way back to the hostel area we decided to get another pastry to go before running to catch the bus.

Jeronimos Monastery

Padrao Dos Descobrimentos

Torre de Belem

Back by our hostel we hit every tourist ship for Liz to find some fake Ray Bans and other souvenirs for the both of us. Well she finally found the sunglasses, 3 of them. But she couldn’t decide on which two to buy so she decided to bargaining for all of them. 3 for 2. The guy didn’t like that so he said she could pay for all 3 and get a magnet too. You think I wouldn’t mind bargaining as a daughter of a sales rep, not. I didn't like witnessing this and almost stepped out, silly.

For dinner we signed up with the hostel for an amazing deal. Two appetizers, a main course, dessert, and three drinks for just 10 Euros ($12.40). At dinner we made friends with a guy named Jakob from Denmark, two Portuguese guys who were in town for a concert, a guy from South Africa, and a couple of German guys. The Portuguese guys tried to teach us some words which was impossible to imitate. It was nothing like Spanish. I believe that the one word that everyone should learn in another country is excuse me, you really don’t realize how often you need to say it… or maybe it’s just me.

Anyways, all of the guys had signed up for the hostel pub crawl after dinner for just 10 Euros more. Liz and I didn’t sign up because we needed a good nights rest and we didn’t want to waste our last day in Portugal. But before the pub crawl we tried to play a German beer drinking game and at 11am the hostel give out free shots. And the Portuguese guys convinced the Portuguese hostel workers to give us another round after everyone left. Right after, everyone was supposed to leave for the pub crawl, and they convinced Liz and I to go to the first location. So on a whim we went. I was already in my pj pants with only my hostel key on me. The South African guy was determined to get us in but when we tried to sneak in with the group the pub crawl lady made us get out. But it didn’t matter because it was ladies night anyways. A plus to going with these guys was that since they paid for the pub crawl they had free drinks wrist bands so they could just get a bunch and share with us. They two Portuguese guys also requested the Portuguese hit Ai Se Tu Pego for us and we all had a fun time dancing. Well as they moved on to the next location Liz and I headed back. At the hostel we both had unstoppable hiccups and had to wait to go to sleep so we didn’t wake our roommates. What an unexpected and fun night!

May 26th
The next morning we had breakfast and then headed on the free walking tour with the hostel. Our new Danish friend Jakob was also on the walking tour even though he was up all night at the pub crawl. On the tour we saw a doll hospital (no joke), some cool graffiti, a cool balcony with an outlook over the city, a public urinal (next to the Castle of St. Jorge), and the remains of an earthquake. In 1755 Lisbon had a 8.5 - 9.0 magnitude earthquake that lasted for over 7 minutes and was one the deadliest earthquakes in history.

Earthquake Ruins.

Lisbon is very hilly.

Thieves Market

Also on the tour we got a view of the ocean and of course some cathedrals. Now this tour was supposed to be just 2 hours, it was more like 3. For all the Hawaii people out there, Portuguese people really do talk a lot not just in Hawaii, I don’t know how our tour guide did it. I think he told us 100 times to watch out for pick pocketers. Anyways, they also don't refer to themselves as Podagees.

After tipping our tour guide we headed to the Thieves Market a recommendation from our tour guide. It is called Thieves Market because they sell many electronics there, that were pick pocketed from tourists, whoops. There we ran into Anna, another DIS student who lived up north by us in Denmark. Now I ran into Anna randomly in Sweden too. What a small world. The Danish guy, Jakob, also decided to tag along with us to the Market and while we had another one of our awesome open faced chip and sauce sandwiches in the shadow of a big cathedral.

Our next destination was to find the historic tram 28 and go for a ride. It's usually jam packed but after wondering around for a bit and getting some sun we finally found it. We rode the tram down the hill and then headed back to the hostel (after passing a protest) to figure out the rest of our afternoon and pack. Jakob then left us to go take a nap.

Jam packed Tram 28.

Since we still had some metro money left and an hour to kill we decided to hop on a boat and go across the river to the other side. We were on the other side for about 5 minutes before catching the boat back because we had to grab our bags and head to the airport. Our pay it forward moment was giving our metro card with a few Euros on it to someone on the bus. I think I gave mine to a young lady while I thought Liz would give it to the guy next to her. Nope, Liz was afraid of him so she also gave hers to the same lady as I did, silly.

Crossing the river.

Portugal overall was amazing! The Portuguese language is a Latin language that is close to Italian and kinda close to Spanish. Liz and I did make the mistake of saying gracis to everyone in Portugal, which they do not say there. Also a lot of the Portuguese people could speak English better then the folks in Spain. Additionally, there was a lot more diversity in Portugal and people were more expressive with their emotions then the Danes. I also noticed a lot of police in Lisbon and a lot of jay walkers. Well there are a lot of jay walkers everywhere but Denmark.

In Spain and Portugal not only did I get my fill of warmth in the weather but also with the people. I did come out with a ring tan line, another first. But I think it would be amazing to study abroad in Portugal. I wish we had more then 2 quick days there but Ireland was next.

Goldfish Desperation

So I've been back in America for almost 2 months now. Yet I made this list before I left, I was that excited for these things:

1. Leaving the water on in the shower. We could only turn it on when rinsing, brrrrrr (this might be a host family thing).
2. Full sized towels. Instead of 4 baby towels.
3. Driving! Although trains are nice to read, sleep, and relax...
4. Money that's not in the form of coins. My wallet is a lot lighter now.
5. Regular toilets. I swear there is like 8 ways to flush a toilet over there.
6. Normal doors. I can just turn the knob and the doors open, there is no button I have to press at the same time? How simple and ingenuous.
7. Jay walking. Yes I'm back to breaking the law.
8. Non military time. Oh you want to meet at 5PM not 17:00?
9. Free water at restaurants. And FREE public bathrooms.
10. GOLDFISH.

I stumbled upon this lovely (I mean desperate) note to PepperRidge Farm I wrote while in Denmark. Thought it was time to share:

To whom it may concern,

My name is Leslee Mahoney. Most of the time I live in the warm, tropical state of Hawaii but right now I'm studying abroad in the cold, wet country of Denmark. I'm sure you know a lot about Denmark, but you may not know that there are no Goldfish here.

As a 20 year old US citizen I have become deeply attached to Goldfish and can't remember a period of time longer then 7 days where I haven't had Goldfish. Tonight, after 3 weeks, I finally opened my bag of Goldfish I packed for Denmark, and couldn't stop eating it. As my stash starts to dwindle it is finally starting to hit home that I unfortunately have no more access to goldfish.

As I'm sure your starting to realize, the point of the message is: how can I get Goldfish here?

Thanks for your help,
Leslee Mahoney


Go ahead and laugh. I am. And I never heard back from them.

Thank goodness my bday was in the middle of my time abroad.