Living and Learning.

I know it’s a little early for this, but since I’m off for the next two weeks (!!) with my brother I thought this would be a good time to reflect. I know there are a lot of other things, but for now here are 10 things I learned about life, love and myself in Copenhagen:

1. You learn to adapt in every situation. I know I can be high strung, anxiety ridden and crazy at times, but I learned that when you get thrown (or you throw yourself) into something like this, you will adapt as quickly as your body and mind need you to.
2. People will always surprise you. Regardless whether it turns out good or bad, people will never fail to surprise you
3. Missing the little things will become more and more apparent.
4. I hate dense, super brown, bread. That’s right Denmark, I hate your “rye” bread.
5. I am much more stereotypical Canadian than I ever thought possible. I have an accent (I have been told this MANY times, by fellow Canadians as well), I miss maple syrup on pancakes and in tea, I stay up until 4am watching hockey games I stream on the internet, and I enjoy sporting the Canadian flag in every country I visit, eh?
6. I learned never to doubt my own abilities, and that independence is hard, but exceedingly rewarding. If I hadn’t have stood up for myself and believed in my abilities I wouldn’t have made it to Ireland, which turned out to be yet another lesson.
7. Do what you want to do. It’s simple, and without sounding vain, making yourself happy is the most important part of life. If you try to please others and end up miserable, what’s the point?
8. Though I already knew this, it has been cemented with this trip. I may not be very good at meeting people and making good friends, but those I do stick. One or two amazing friends are better than none at all.
9. It took me 4 months to figure out, but Shakespeare’s history plays are actually pretty badass…and the essay I wrote about them was pretty badass too (okay, so that's general, but it was due to all the independent work that is required for class here that I discovered this.)
10. Distance truly does make the heart grown fonder. I couldn’t have done this without the support of my family, friends and especially my incredible boyfriend. It may sound corny, but I didn't think I could love my boyfriend more than I did before I left...I've been proven very wrong.

Thank you to everyone for an amazing 5 months.

Jeg elsker du,

Meghan

Odds and ends

The random things I think about in different countries, an absolute odd list:

- Danes (and maybe all Europeans) don't settle for regular wheels, they want wheels that go all ways, especially on shopping carts and luggage

- Hungarian paprika is different from paprika apparently...I don't know the difference, but alright.

- Light switches in Denmark are opposite (like most everything) and you flip them down to turn them on, also, the outlets look like smiley faces

"Oh, herro! My name is Switch, Light Switch, nice to meet ya!"...seriously, don't they look happy?

- Stamps, and mail is expensive. Don't have anything shipped to Denmark, the VAT (value added tax) is nutty...like 25% or something.

- In Ireland they have the Garda, unarmed police. This was a complete mind screw to me.

- If you take a train from Bratislava to Krakow, you may end up Czech Republic...and then kicked off the train cause you got on the wrong one

- In Ireland crosswalks/street lights mean absolutely nothing. They don't change regularly enough and even if you cross on a red and a cop is sitting at the light they won't do anything (not that they could bahaha...sorry). Also there is reminders on the street which way to look...I asked my Irish roomie Donna about this and she said "well in case you forget!" to which I replied "didn't you learn when you were like 5 to look BOTH ways when crossing?", I believe she said something along the line of "that would be too much work" :P

Oh shoot, I gotta look left!

- If you're on the Metro in Denmark and there is an announcement in Danish and everyone gets off, YOU GET OFF TOO. That's the rule, seriously.

- In Hungry, if you don't buy a ticket, they will hold you hostage until you pay them money....odds are they make up an amount

- I learned from one of my Profs that in Denmark serving weak coffee is an absolute insult

- Saw this sign at a bus stop in Ireland and laughed really hard...how does one queue "unsafely"?

I'm sure I'll think of more, but these are just some things I noticed.

Hope all is well!

Jeg elsker du,

Meghan

Day 4,5 and 6: A green bus, sheep, Irish music and so much more

Oh hey, from atop Ireland :)

I took a 3 day tour of “southern” Ireland through a company called Paddy Wagon tours. I hopped on the giant green bus at 9am and was ready to go. Over the course of the 3 days I met a lot of really cool people. The age range was 18 to upward of 50 and many of the girls I met on the tour were also traveling solo. All of the people my age were from Australia* (seriously, they are everywhere), but all very laidback people and we had an awesome time.

The tour began with our guide giving us a quick introduction. His name was Barry (though all the Aussies dubbed him “Baz”) and he’s from Cork. Throughout the tour he brought ample entertainment as well as knowledge to us. He sang, told jokes and gave us all the information we needed about the places we were going and where we stopped. He made the experience that much better and I felt safe on that bus, which is a difficult feat considering the tight and winding roads in Ireland (seriously, it all looked VERY scary).

The first day we drove from Dublin to Galway. We stopped in a small town called Cong to eat lunch and take a look at the abbey and the forest. It was quaint and cozy and that’s how most of the tour turned out, which I loved. We moved on toward Galway and stopped at the Tides at Killary. The “tides” are basically a boggy/marshy gully that streams in from the ocean. It was also where the movie “The Field” was filmed (haven’t seen it, but Barry recommended it).

On our way there Barry told us the story of a tour group he had who were really into drinking, while they were driving into town they asked if they could have a beer at the pub. Barry told them yes and as he was standing outside having a smoke the owner came out to thank him for bringing in such a large crowd. He chatted with the old man a while and the man even said that he could have a free coffee while winking…needless to say, Barry passed on that coffee, but told us he thought that the old guy was quite genuinely nice person. Driving into the little town we saw a huge crowd drinking on the street, we assumed it was a wedding because it seemed they were celebrating. As it turned out it was the old mans funeral and they were drinking at his bar and celebrating his life.

We stopped at the Connemara Giant because Barry said “were stopping, because we will pass this statue and no one will believe me when I tell them why it’s there…”. Hoping off the bus we saw two statues, beneath the Connemara statue it read “built in 1999 by Joyces Craft Shop for absolutely no reason”. I had to laugh, and much like the massive spire in the middle of Dublin, it serves no purpose.

Connemara Giant

We ended up in Galway that night, had dinner and then head down to “Quays” bar. There was a live bar, cider and great company. Definitely an awesome time.

The next day we went from Galway over to Annascaul, which is about 40 minutes from Killarney. Our first stop was an abbey along the way and though I don’t remember the name of the abbey, but to me looking at the headstones is what I enjoy. It may seem morbit, but I find myself thinking about the person and their story and it’s something I like doing (I have this in common with my mother). It’s not as though I’m happy these people are gone, but I always wondering about how old they were, what their family chose to put on the headstone and if there has been anyone visiting. I think about who they were, and it’s comforting to me in a way, but this proved not to be the case at our next destination.

We then went to the Cliffs of Moher. It was an absolutely stunning view. There was a large wall built to stop people from walking along the cliffs, but over the years people have found a way around it and we took it as well. It was spectacular no doubt, but I found myself wondering about the memorial I’d seen on that wall. I couldn’t help but feel uneasy that they had a sign for those who had lost their lives. We asked Barry how many people had fallen or jumped and he said about 13/14 a year. It made me think about how such a beautiful sight could be somehow destroyed by the sadness of humanity. The Cliffs of Moher were conflicting for me, but I’m so glad I got to see them.

The Cliffs of Moher

The next morning we were off to Killarney, and I can tell you hands down it was my favourite place I visited in Ireland. There was something so warming about the small town charm and the national park was stunning. We took a horse** and carriage ride around the park and I found myself falling in love with Ireland all over again. The wonder of mountains, trees and greenery made me goofy happy. Our carriage driver was a man, about 30 years old, who told us a lot about the park, though we were all more interested in his upcoming marriage (girls, I know). He was a sweet guy who also worked as a firefighter in the city. My morning in Killarney was the best and it made me certain that I would be back one day.

Finally, we made the trip to Blarney Castle, where of course, the Blarney stone is. The castle itself was quite small, but the grounds were absolutely stunning. The stone is said to give you the gift of the gab. That is to say, you can talk and talk and talk in circles without actually saying anything, which lets just be honest, isn’t something I ever needed haha! Regardless I kissed the stone and made our way back to Dublin where I finished off my trip with a day in St. Stephen’s green people watching and enjoying the sun.

Kissing the stone

Ireland was a wonderful adventure and I was thankful I got to do it on my own. I met a lot of cool people and will definitely be going back one day.

Cheers Ireland, you were awesome.

Jeg elsker du,

Meghan

*exception: 1 New Zealander, 1 South African and 1 Balinese

**Our horses name was Jumbo

SHEEP!