aarhus > london > rome > athens > london > copenhagen

so my trip to rome and athens for the last week was pretty out of control. MUCH traveling was done; i don't understand how people do it all the time -- it's so draining: both physically and fiscally! it was totally worth it though; and this time i finally have pictures to prove it (read: not too lazy to put them up)!

i stayed in a hostel in rome for four nights where i acquired probably about 15-20 mosquito bites. gross.


the roman forum

a trip to rome would not be complete, of course, without the colosseum and the trevi fountain.



i ate pizza, pasta, and gelato pretty much every single one of the four days that was there.


other visits included the pantheon, capitoline hills and museum, the spanish steps (flooded with what seemed like a million tourists), palatine hills, a handful of piazzas, basilicas, etc. etc. on the third day, i went to pompeii and naples with christian, an aussie from my hostel.




the sistine chapel and st. peter's literally took my breath away.

the vatican -


this basilica i visited, st. clementine, was actually built on top of another one from the 4th century! i would recommend checking that out should you ever head to rome. it was crazy; excavation is still in progress.

an aside: italian men are shameless! i think that if the guys were so forward in the states or even here in copenhagen (aka NOT TRASHY), i would die.

okay, on to greece. i technically stayed there for not even two days. i arrived late LATE on tuesday night (weds morning?), and giovanni from mexico city and i decided to catch a ferry to one of the neighboring islands. we ended up going to aegina.



notice how green the water is!

it was overcast and even cold (!), so the island was pretty deserted. giovanni wanted to check out the other end of the island where the beaches were, and it was even worse. the owners of the restaurants were hanging outside their doors practically begging us to go in at 4pm. we ended up in this place where we were served pretty much a home-cooked greek meal. and lots of wine. this means that christina missed the last bus to go back to the port to catch a boat back to athens. yep, it was pretty much amazing.

woke up early the next day and i decided to actually do a quick overview of the city. i saw this thing:


and this is what i saw on the trek up the hill to the acropolis.



changing of the guards at the parliament, in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier.

that job must suck. a lot. i was really impressed with the synchronization of it all.. but having to stand there in those killer uniforms in the heat for eight hours at a time? no thanks.

got a little bit cultured out at the national archealogical museum with too many statues of gods and emperors and vases and the like, and also saw the temple of zeus.

i shall conclude this entry with this shot of really good beer:


duh, and we can't forget the food:

i'm going to eat and then take a nap now, bye!

i've finally made the decision to extend my stay into the rest of the school year. but shh, don't tell anybody yet, because nothing has been finalized. i'm pretty sure that it will go through, though. i signed the papers yesterday. here's to hoping! i've booked my flight home for xmas break already, so mark your calenders for dec 20-jan 13. i cannot cannot wait to see everybody! that is all, bye.

det er dejligt vejr i dag, ikke?

actually the weather's gotten quite shittastic in the past two days. autumn has come.

even when it rains in the morning, it can clear up by the next two hours. the weather is temperate, quite unpredictable. when in doubt, always talk about the weather. it can make for good conversation here in copenhagen.

i've ended my reclusive streak this past weekend. woke up at 2 (!) on friday, grabbed "linner" and coffee with my german friend judith. then i met up with laura in the evening to check out the film, mother of mine (swedish/finnish) at the cinematek. the copenhagen film festival ended this wkend, and we thought it best to check out a movie and take in the danish experience of going to the cinema. you know you get to pick out your seats?? hah weird. i don't think i'd cried that much at the cinema in a long, long time and that was good. then it was off to the english departmental party. first taste of tequila. more beer. surprisingly, the liquor was good to me. i don't think i'd ever gotten so drunk since i'd been in europe, but it was a good drunk. i had fun. i woke up drunk, even! jesus. ann and i decided that i need to make a trip out to estonia eventually...

umm saturday invited the opportunity for recuperation. that night we went to a hip cafe where a friend's band performed. it was completely reminscent of a high school garage band practice, but it was still nice being out and enjoying the cocktails.

today i went to the park with margaret to "do homework" and bask in the sun and mainly chitchat about random shit by the lake. afterwards i went to check out a free movie that the culture course was offering. it was your exemplary danish "dogma" film. called "festen" (translated, the celebration). it was all sorts of fucked up, but it was a movie you had to see again to catch all the elements you missed earlier. we had a lecture on danish cinema last week, and it was really interesting to see how film has evolved over the last couple of decades. i wish i had time to take the danish film & cinema course.

and that was my weekend. i felt like i had to update. it's october. i'm ready to take on all this traveling: BRING IT ON.