If you see something weird, it's not weird, it's just Finnish

A dear friend of mine recently remarked that my blog “sucked”. I was a bit offended until I realized that well, it does. It's a bit of an internal conflict: how much time should I spend writing about the things I’m doing and how much time should I spend actually doing them.

In Denmark students have a weeklong break in October. Mark and I had originally planned to get together a group of people, rent a car and drive through Norway. Eventually that fell through and Martina (our roommate from the Czech Republic) asked us if we wanted to fly to Finland instead. Since we really had no better ideas, we said screw it; why not?

Later a flight turned into a complicated network of trains, buses and ferries and Finland turned into Sweden, Finland and Norway. The three of us are in Finland now.

After nearly missing our first train (Martina had some cookies in the oven and Maria Luisa, our Spanish roommate, had mixed her first batch of sangria with an unusually high ratio of vodka), we caught the night train from Malmo to Stockholm, Sweden. In Stockholm we caught the ferry to Turku, the former capital of Finland and one of the largest cities in the country.

The ferry ride was incredible. For 7 Euros each, we had our own cabin with beds, desk and shower for the twelve hour trip. We picked up some alcohol at the duty free (apparently very popular, what with high taxes in both Sweden and Finland), enjoyed standing out on the deck and slept heartily.


Mark and Martina getting on the ferry


Enjoying some tax free beverages


The ferry

After arriving in Turku, we took the train to Helsinki. By far the best part about Helsinki was our host, Thomas. I found Thomas on CouchSurfing.org and he was truly amazing to us. He picked us up at the train station, let us sleep in his living room, took us out to his favourite bars at night and bought us breakfast. Beyond just being a really nice person, I think he loves to learn how the world works, loves to get to know new people and loves to share ideas. Although he had a wealth of his own experiences to share, including a trip to North Korea, Thomas was sincerely interested in our stories and our ideas, which is what I liked most about him.


Outside Thomas's house in Helsinki

Martina also had some Czech friends in Helsinki. Our first day we took a trip to one of Finland's national parks where we spent the day hiking and having a campfire.


The national park


Martina on the bridge


More park


An unlikely trio


The lake

Our second day we visited a famous historical island near the city centre which is the site of an old military fortress.


A small section of the fortress


Martina


More fortress

Next stop: Tampere!

Denmarked at last

We arrived in Denmark August 23. Not knowing the exchange rate was really to our advantage at this point, as it made the $9 transit ticket from the train station a lot easier to swallow. That was one of our first observations: Denmark is expensive. The cheapest grocery store is Netto, and I’d say the prices are about on par with an expensive, specialty grocery store in Canada. Fuel is something like twice as much, although this isn’t really a concern of ours. Just about the only thing that’s cheaper is beer. At least we have our beer.


Beer

The first week was an orientation for international students. Most are from Europe, although we did meet a few Americans, Mexicans, Australians, Chinese and Koreans. The Spanish, Polish and French are particularly abundant. There are a few other Canadians, mostly from Waterloo as well. Not a single English person, maybe Denmark is too close to home?

Our house is just about perfect. There are six rooms, each with a bed and desk. The kitchen is large, but the best part is the backyard which has a charcoal grill, roofed area and three picnic tables. If this wasn’t enough, it’s only five minutes from campus!


View from the front


...and the back

The area is pretty interesting, it's about a 20 minute bus ride from Central Copenhagen and we're right next to a farmer's field and a wooded deer reserve with hundreds of deer. All that separates us from campus is a highway.


The view down the road from our house


The highway we cross to get to class

So far the term has gotten off to a great start. Our classes are almost all about building design, specifically sustainable building design, which I am loving. The work is much more project oriented than at Waterloo, so there are fewer tests and more large assignments. None of our courses have final exams, so we will be done at the beginning of December (this is highly unusual, we just got lucky). The tentative plan is to go to Italy before we head home in late December, but this could change.

Mark and I have also developed a solid group of friends. Almost all are other international students, but we do know a few Danish people. Our house is perfect for groups of people and has already become a central location for having dinner and hanging out.


Dinner #2

It has been a good couple weeks in Denmark. Our next goal is to explore.

The second half

The second part of the adventure begins in Berlin. After Moh left for Egypt, Mark and I hung out with Josh, played German Settlers of Catan and did a little more site seeing. Finally we decided it was time to hit the road, or in this case, the rails. First stop, Prague!

On Moh's recommendation, we stayed at the Clown and Bard Hostel. This was truly a great location, we had a shared room with a common kitchen, free internet access and a bar in the basement. We had three roommates each night, but they changed over the course of our stay. The first set were English rugby players, who coincidently both loved beer and got along great with Mark. The second set included two English guys, and a Canadian who'd recently finished mining engineering at Queens. These three had been on the road for over a month, which I'm sure factored into their carefree attitude and general lack of concern for anything. They were pretty great guys though. There were also two Danish girls in the room over who gave us an introduction to the Danish language. Needless to say we didn't get much further than 'cheers' and 'my name is ...' - the pronunciation is extremely difficult.


The neighbourhood where we stayed in Prague


The view from our room in the Clown and Bard Hostel

In Prague we also took an amazing tour of the city and visited Prague Castle. On our last night Mark and I got separated and I ended up wandering the streets until the Metro reopened at about 4:30am. Regardless, Prague went on to be one of our favourite stops.




Prague Castle and Cathedral

Long long escalators are a favourite of the Prague Metro system

After Prague we decided to make our way to Budapest. Because our EuroRail passes only covered up to the border of the Czech Republic, we had to book our own tickets. Clever young men that we are, we decided to be thrifty and take the bus. I actually didn't think it was too bad, but for Mark it was somewhere near the worst seven and a half hours of his life. We decided to take the train on the way back, even though it cost us twice as much.


The bus ride from Prague to Budapest

In Budapest we stayed at a hostel pretty far from the city centre, which really limited how much we could do. It also lacked the social atmosphere of the Clown and Bard, which we really missed. Fortunately we did get to take in a little Red Bull Air Racing which featured pilots from all over the world flying under two of the main bridges in Budapest.


Red Bull Air Racing

On our last day we decided to take in one of the famous public bath houses. Fed by natural hot springs, the baths included several large outdoor pools as well as countless indoor pools at different temperatures from 20 to 40 degrees. Although expensive, we both felt a lot better after a few hours in the pool.


Public baths in Budapest

After Budapest we made our way back west to Hamburg, our final stop before making the trip to our new home in Copenhagen. In Hamburg we stayed in a beautiful hostel in the heart of a very trendy area with restaurants and bars throughout. This is where we met a group of people from Frankfurt, who subsequently invited us to a free concert in the city centre.


Free concert in Hamburg

We also had the opportunity to climb the Hamburg clock tower. I have no idea how many steps there are, but it was one hell of a climb. I'm not sure the view was worth it, but we probably needed the exercise anyway.


One of several giagantic bells


The view

Hamburg is most famous for the Reeperbahn, one of the largest red light districts in Europe. Although the less wholesome entertainment is still bountiful (and increasingly expensive), the area has begun to be dominated by regular nightclubs and bars. Perhaps not surprisingly, this is where I ran into Kadish, a friend from Waterloo who is studying in Sweden this fall.


Kadish and I met randomly on the Reeperbahn

After Hamburg we boarded our final train to Copenhagen. We weren't exactly sure how we were going to get past the large stretch of water between Denmark and Germany, but it turns out they put the whole train on a boat, which was pretty exciting to say the least.

Although it was a pretty amazing trip, Mark and I were both very very happy to have a permanent bed to sleep in. I'm sure we'll be taking another trip soon, but for now Denmark is home.

Young, hip and adventurous

I'm not exactly sure what I expected out of Europe. Traveling Europe is so romanticized; it's 'the thing to do' when you're young, hip and adventurous. Since I am, after all, each of these things, it should seem only natural that I find myself hopping on that shiny shiny bandwagon. But I don't think I ever expected to 'do Europe', as they say. I originally wanted to go on an international study exchange to Singapore, but my fellow exchangee Mark felt that a country which, until recently, outlawed chewing gum, might be a little too restrictive for someone who enjoys person freedom as much as he does. For some reason the exchange office at Waterloo ruled out Australia, and that didn't leave too many countries which offered courses in English. From this point onward, I think Denmark was more or less chosen at random from a small group of other European countries including England and Sweden.

For me, the adventure begins in Frankfurt, Germany. Frankfurt is a hub of several things.. European culture is not one of them. Airports are. This is where I met up with Mohini and had the opportunity to sample the famous Frankfurt Apfelwein (¨Appelvine¨ - feel free to imagine a German accent at this point).


Apfelwein in Frankfurt

The next day we took a train to a small town on the Rheine River where we hopped on a ferry for a couple hours, looked at the gorgeous castles and vinyards and tried to stay awake (I was still a little jetlagged at this point).




Castles and towns along the Rheine River

After our little float down the river, we caught a train to Brussels, Belgium. My first impression was that Brussels looked more like I imagined Eastern Europe to look, but this may have just been the area near the train station. The streets were dominated by Middle Eastern people, there was a carnival happening and little markets dominated the street. Later we made it into the city centre with all the touristy things one hopes to find in Belgium including waffles, beer and the infamous statue of the little boy peeing (which is also infamously overrated).


Moh checking out the waffles in Belgium

After a night in Belgium, Moh and I made our way to Den Haag, the Netherlands where we stayed with Jenia and Dennis. Moh had met Dennis on an earlier trip to Austria, and he invited us to come and stay with him and Jenia while we were in the Netherlands. 'Couch Surfing' has become extremely popular in Europe, either officially through the website couchsurfing.org or as a simple invitation between fellow travellers or friends of friends of friends. Jenia and Dennis's hospitatlity turned out to be rather limitless and we ended up staying twice as long as we had intended. While in Den Haag we took day trips to Leiden and Amsterdam. My favourite parts were the architecture as well as the Dutch cheeses.




Architecture in Den Haag


Cheese in Leiden

From the Netherlands we took the train back to Leipzig in Eastern Germany where Moh had been working for the summer. This was my first taste of Eastern Europe and also a great opportunity to meet some of the friends Moh had made and get a taste of her life over the summer.


An amazing dinner with some of Moh's friends in Leipzig


A bike trip, cut short by the impending rain

Several days later, we caught the train to Berlin to meet Mark at the airport. Here the three of us stayed with Josh, another friend Moh had made on an earlier trip. Located in East Berlin, Josh's apartment was amazing and his hospitality was again phenominal. In Berlin I was most interested in the Berlin Wall and World War II.




One of the few remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall


The Jewish Holocaust Memorial in Berlin

At this point Moh had to catch her flight home (well actually to Egypt for a short tour, before flying back to Canada) and Mark and I were alone in Europe for the first time. Next stop, Prague!