So I know this is a week late but between traveling and school, I forgot to post about going to Copenhagen with Megan, another Scot abroad. So a little background on me and Megan. We both transferred to MC in 2018 after doing 2 years at separate schools in TN. We met during orientation week and instantly recognized that we have A LOT in common and quickly became friends. We both are in the same major and are on similar career paths. We had a lot of classes together and began to hang out outside of MC and she is my best friend at MC. We were both excited about studying abroad and that we are both doing it in the same semester so we decided that we would visit each other in our new countries. We planned our dates and mid-October is when I was supposed to go to Germany but it was way too expensive for me to visit her in Marburg. We were both really sad about not getting to see each other but still had her trip to Finland to look forward to (for some reason Helsinki to Frankfurt is crazy expensive but Frankfurt to Helsinki isn't too bad). I was talking to my Dad one night and he suggested that we try to meet somewhere in the middle and the next day I texted Megan asking if she'd want to meet in Copenhagen and coincidentally she was already looking at going to Copenhagen that weekend! Next thing I know tickets are bought, Airbnb is booked, and I'm on a plane to Denmark. Megan arrived earlier than I did so she saw a bit of the city before she came to pick me up from the airport. My flight came in the evening and we were both so tired from traveling that we just went to the Airbnb, ate dinner, and relaxed for the night. The next day we decided to go to Nyhavn, the colorful houses. They were really pretty and stood out against the overcast sky. We then took a canal cruise and saw a lot of the coast of Denmark. After the cruise, we knew the little mermaid statue was relatively close to where we were and we decided to walk there. Along the way, we saw the Palace, a cathedral, fountains, an old fortress, and many other things. We had both been told that the little mermaid statue is smaller than many people expect and after hearing that she was actually bigger than we both expected but it still was underwhelming and we didn't really care for the statue. We were both starting to get hungry and decided to get hot dogs for lunch. Back home I have a friend from Denmark and once I told him I'd be traveling to Copenhagen he said that I had to try the hot dogs. We found a hot dog street vendor on the way to our next site. It was honestly the best hot dog I've ever had. Danes put ketchup, mustard, remoulade, pickles, and fried onions on top of the dog and oddly enough it all works amazingly together. Once lunch was over we headed to the Christiansborg tower which offers a 360 degree view of the city. It was so cool to see over the city but we were also on a time limit. The night before when we were buying dinner an older man stopped us in the store and asked us where we were from and what we were doing in Copenhagen. When he found out we were from America he told us about his ex-wife's pie shop in the city, The American Pie Company, and told us that we had to go. We looked up the menu that night and noticed that they sell take and bake pot pies and decided that was dinner. The pie shop closed at 6 so after the tower we raced to the store for pie. It was all so delicious. The next day was my last day in Copenhagen and we went to see the changing of the guard at the palace, saw a cathedral, and then it was time for me to fly back to Finland. Copenhagen is such a fun city with so much to do I would definitely tell people to go there and try a hot dog while there!
When I came back from Copenhagen it was the end of the first period of classes which means I had final presentations in some classes and the syllabus class in others. I had papers to write and I was still sleep-deprived from traveling. Luckily, everything went well and was completed on time and I had a few days with no class to catch up on sleep.
My mom decided to come to visit me in Finland and she arrived a week ago. Our first stop in Finland was Rovaniemi, Lapland. Rovaniemi is known for having Santa's village where you can meet Santa, reindeer, huskies, and cross the arctic circle. It is also a good place to see the northern lights. Our first day there was raining so we did all the inside attractions in the village including meeting the man himself. This guy was legit, the best Santa I've ever seen! We ate a reindeer burger and reindeer soup. It was all so good but the soup reminded me of sausage gravy from back home which I didn't mind! The next day we met the reindeer which are so cute and saw the husky park. I could've spent all day with the animals but sadly we had to make the last bus back to the city and went to a museum before dinner at a local pizza restaurant. That night we did a northern lights tour and we actually saw the lights...kind of. So we didn't see the colors of the lights but we did see the lights through the clouds which locked the colors. It was still so cool. The next day we traveled back to Jyväskylä. I had class and homework to do so we stayed in town for a few days and I showed her the sights of my city and we visited Tampere the other day. The big highlights there were the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame and the spy museum which apparently was the first in the world.
My mom decided to come to visit me in Finland and she arrived a week ago. Our first stop in Finland was Rovaniemi, Lapland. Rovaniemi is known for having Santa's village where you can meet Santa, reindeer, huskies, and cross the arctic circle. It is also a good place to see the northern lights. Our first day there was raining so we did all the inside attractions in the village including meeting the man himself. This guy was legit, the best Santa I've ever seen! We ate a reindeer burger and reindeer soup. It was all so good but the soup reminded me of sausage gravy from back home which I didn't mind! The next day we met the reindeer which are so cute and saw the husky park. I could've spent all day with the animals but sadly we had to make the last bus back to the city and went to a museum before dinner at a local pizza restaurant. That night we did a northern lights tour and we actually saw the lights...kind of. So we didn't see the colors of the lights but we did see the lights through the clouds which locked the colors. It was still so cool. The next day we traveled back to Jyväskylä. I had class and homework to do so we stayed in town for a few days and I showed her the sights of my city and we visited Tampere the other day. The big highlights there were the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame and the spy museum which apparently was the first in the world.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!