St. Paddy's.... IN DUBLIN!

Hej alle, har tingene endelig faldet til ro lidt.

Well, besides the fact that I have an oral exam in Danish on Friday for which I am soooo unprepared.

Anyway, time is flying by SO quickly.  As of Sunday there are only 2 months until my flight back to the US.  I have been having an incredible time though.

This weekend I went to Dublin with two of my sorority sisters for St. Patrick's Day weekend.  We booked this trip back in late October, so it was almost surreal that the time had finally come.  It was nighttime once we got there and checked into the hostel, so we decided to explore the area's nightlife scene.  The first place we stumbled upon was called "Lafayette," so obviously we had to go inside.  It was a really cool venue.  Actually all the places we went throughout the weekend at night had fun set-ups.  One thing we noticed was that all the Irish girls tended to wear super high heels with miniskirts, crop tops, and false eyelashes.

I did not like the hostel at which we stayed, despite the great location next to Trinity College (which was beautiful, by the way... so green!) and Temple Bar.  However, the next night we stayed further South in a hotel with the most comfortable beds ever.  Because we were only there for a limited time, Saturday was confined to exploring on my own version of a self-guided tour with detours into shops along the way.  We didn't let the rain and hail that went on for most of the weekend prevent us from having a good time, although it did prevent a lot of pictures from being taken.  Everyone was wearing leprechaun hats and dressed in green no matter where we went. Later in the day we headed over to the Guinness Factory, which had live music and food and beer and the best view of Dublin in addition to the walkthrough.  I had THE BEST burger of my life while there, as it had been marinated in a Guinness sauce and on a Guinness bun.  I can't imagine any burger ever topping it.

Dressed up at the parade!

Sunday was actually St. Paddy's Day, and the whole city was abuzz.  We started the day off with some Bailey's and hot chocolate... a delicious combination.  The parade was awesome, though it was difficult to see with all the people.  At one point Jen even climbed up on top of a phone booth to get a better view.  Overall it was a really great weekend.  Dublin is a very pedestrian-friendly city, and I'd love to go back to see the cliffs and the Leprechaun Museum and everything else I missed in my short time there.

This will be my last post for a while, as I have more midterms this week and planning and packing to do.  I will be in Prague, London, and Edinburgh for the 10 days leading up until Easter, so much more to write about following!

Long Study Tour

So yet again I apologize for the length of wait time for this post as week as lack of depth- this week and next week are full of midterms and I have no time to spare (except to go to Dublin, of course...).

Last week... well I guess closer to two weeks ago now... I had my long study tour trip to Budapest and Vienna. Pictures have been up for a while now, but those are the links to the albums anyway.

No trip is ever completely stress free, and my stressful situation came at the very beginning...

Széchenyi Chain Bridge, Budapest

I had to be at the airport by 5:15, which meant that I had to leave my kollegium at 4:15.  Because I have insomnia anyway, I figured I'd just do what I normally do before an early flight and pull and all-nighter.  I packed, watched tv, and Skyped with people until I had about 20 minutes before I should've woken up to get ready/go.  So of course I decided that a 20 minute nap would be a good idea. I fell asleep, missed 3 alarms and woke up an hour and 20 min later. I held up the class so long they had to go without me and THANK GOD the airport people let me go in the express lane because I made it to the terminal right as they were boarding. (Sorry mom and dad for not telling you about this... didn't think it was something you'd wanna hear.)

Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest

Anyway, we landed in Budapest and had some time to explore and eat brunch before going on a walking tour.  Allen, Kelsey, Mary and I found a great cafe and split some meat and cheese and bread platters while enjoying the super cheap prices.  The walking tour of Pest (fun fact... Budapest is actually two cities made up of "Buda" and "Pest") was interesting in that we got to see the entrance to the WWII Jewish Ghetto and and 2nd biggest synagogue in the world as well as ugly buildings left over from the communist period; however, our tour guide was a little too obsessed with street art (or lack thereof) for my liking.  After the tour we went on a wonderful dinner cruise on the Danube, and I took some amazing pictures of the bridge and the skyline of Buda.  Many people went out afterward, but I was way too tired after the previous night's affair and fell right asleep.

Széchenyi Spa, Budapest

The next two days in Budapest consisted of hospital visits with my class, a trip to a museum of an old wartime hospital that was literally inside of a rock, exploring the sights in Buda, marveling at Matthias Church and the view from the Fishman's Bastion, swimming in a Hungarian bath house, eating chimney cake (Hungary's oldest pastry), having dinner at an all-you-can-eat AND all-you-can-drink buffet, and going out to Szimpla Kert, which was rated the 3rd best bar in the world.  Overall I thought Budapest was a really fun city, though I could definitely tell it was Eastern Europe.  The transportation system, while, easy to navigate, seemed pretty sketchy.  The currency took a little bit getting used to as well, as we had to divide by 236.50 to convert to dollars- they had BIG bills.  My favorite thing was definitely the bath- an ornate, outdoor (though inside), giant hot tub.

Class before the bike tour, Vienna

We took the train to Vienna, and while I wish I could've enjoyed the view of the countryside, I slept instead.  It was dinnertime by the time we got to Vienna, and after a delicious soup I went back to the hotel for a night in.  The next morning we awoke to 60 degree weather, which was perfect for our bike ride.  Riding a bike in a pack of people for the first time in years was a little scary at first, but I ended up loving it.  I think I just have a strange fear of self-transportation that being abroad is unintentionally helping me to overcome.  Anyway, Vienna was BEAUTIFUL.  Around every corner was another exquisite building.  The only thing that I didn't like about the bike tour was that it limited my ability to take pictures of the city, but it was still fantastic.

Schönnbrunn Palace, Austria

In Vienna we visited more hospitals, saw the Viennese Orchestra, explored the Schönnbrunn Palace, and went cafe-hopping.  We went to some really cool bars- I breathed fire at one and the other was really swanky and had an awesome view of the city.  Overall Vienna was beautiful, had an extremely easy-to-navigate and clean transportation system, and friendly people.  I remembered way more German than I had realized!

Proof that Kelsey has a heart.

Returning to the Copenhagen tundra was tough, but it was nice to be back "home".  The only highlight of this past week was learning how to perform and read ultrasounds on each other.

I'd like to write about the health care systems of Hungary and Austria, as they are extremely interesting to note, but I need to save those efforts right now for a paper I have to finish involving the subject.

Some exciting news though- I leave for Dublin tomorrow! I'll be in Ireland for St. Paddy's (not St. Patty's, as my Irish friends have drilled into me), Day weekend! So excited.


Happy early birthday, Dad! Sorry I won't be around for it!

Weekly Highlights

This is going to be pretty short because I have to leave in less than 6 hours and I still haven't packed yet, but I'll include some pictures so it isn't too boring.

Too bad I had just come from the gym.

Some highlights: In what I fondly refer to as my "doctor class", I got to wear a doctor's lab coat and interview a real patient to collect her history. I actually felt like a doctor, so that was pretty cool.

We're actually under a giant windmill.

I visited Malmö, Sweden for the day last Saturday. It was like a much quieter, smaller version of Copenhagen. Pictures are on my Shutterfly page.  We walked around, had brunch, did a little shopping, and visited a museum.  Nothing too exciting.

I also went to see the ballet at the Royal Danish Theater with my Danish Class.  The name was called "dans2go", and it was two hours of 3 different ballets. The first was a brand new modern piece, the second was a music-less modern style piece from the 70s, and the third was a classical Russian ballet from the 1800s.  I definitely preferred the last on the best, though many of the other people didn't like any of them. Being there and seeing the dancers onstage really made me miss dance.

Entrance to Christiania

This week my Danish class visited Christiania, an anarchist/hippie-founded society inside Copenhagen that doesn't believe they have to follow the same rules as everyone else in the world.  Hash and marijuana are sold openly on the street as they are legal there, but they are still illegal in Denmark so it doesn't really make sense.  I actually have a lot to say about Christiana, but I'll save it for another time.


Last night I went out with my Scottish and Canadian friends to a bar called "Dupong", a "ping-pong bar".  I was unaware that these existed.  You go to the bar, get a paddle and a beer, and then jump in the line of people circling the ping pong table playing a round robin game.  Each time someone messes up, they're out, and play continues until everyone is running to hit the ball and the last two people are in and play a normal game of up to 5 points.  It was pretty anti-climactic when someone won, though, because the game just started over again.  The concept was strange but enjoyable.  For the first time since I've been here I endured some pretty strong anti-American sentiments from a girl from Belgium.  Again more on that later, as I have a lot to say but don't have the time.

Sorry this was so brief but like I said, I'm leaving for the airport in about 5 hours (4:15am)!  I'll be in Budapest and Vienna with my core class this week- super excited!