[January 3] Århus, Denmark: The Icy Coast & Uncle's Generously Dispensed Wisdom

On a particularly sunny day, I went on a little bike ride to the beach to soak up some rays (ha, ha) and enjoy the scenery. It was really peaceful and I felt great. :)

Later that night for an appetizer, I made these little dried dates stuffed with goat cheese with chopped roasted pine nuts mixed in, and little pine nuts on top. I think they look like bugs...

And here are some pics my Aunt took of my Uncle 'lecturing' me on... well, everything. Ha ha. Politics and history seem to be his favorite topics.

('What is he talking about...? HEH?)

[December 31] Århus, Denmark: New Year's Eve!

December 30th was spent traveling form Dortmund --> Hamburg --> Århus, to where my Aunt and Uncle live. I made a stupid mistake and got off at the wrong Hamburg train stop at which no one working there except a random traveler spoke English, so I had to take another train to the right stop, then wait almost four hours at the train station, which was really cold and busy, busy, busy. I was pretty mad at myself because the mistake was really obvious later. But, I finally got to Århus. 

On New Year's Eve day, I went with my Aunt because she did the polar bear plunge! They don't call it that but a bunch of people get together and run into the ICY water all naked! BRRRR! I couldn't even go in the water in summertime!

Don't look at ME—I am NOT goin' in there!

Mmm...

Later that evening, I went with my Aunt and Uncle to a gathering of their friends. It was really nice that I could go along with them and meet everyone and experience what they typically do. There was a really nice, delicious dinner, and we sang songs in between courses. Really fun! Eating took basically the whole evening, ha ha. When it gets closer to midnight, everyone went upstairs for champagne and to get a better look at the fireworks. I think fireworks for New Years are a lot bigger deal here than in the States, maybe because we get it out of our systems on the 4th of July?!

Godt Nytår fra Danmark!

[October 2] Dublin, Ireland: Hanging Out, Sandycove, & Temple Bar Area

[Before I start in on this post about my second day in Dublin, I have to complain about this new Blogger formatting business! I have A LOT of pictures for this blog of course, and I've already used 1 GB of my online space I'm allotted for this blogging account, so now it's saying I have to pay $5 for a year of having 20 GB. I am NOT being friendly to change!]

Okay! A post about Saturday, October 2nd, in Dublin that is long overdue!

We started out the morning going to an Irish Writer's Museum. Although I'm an English major and quite interested in writing indeed and these are writers writing in English, I was awfully disinterested. I hadn't heard of most of them besides Oscar Wilde, so I didn't have a whole lot of context. Oh well, maybe one day I will better appreciate it? I did appreciate some of the design inside the museum though:

After a quick walk through, Emily, Anne, and I went to try out a chocolate cafe called the Sweetest Thing. Its name does not lie! The guy working there was so nice.

Here's the three of us with our deliciousness... I got chocolate with a shot of espresso and hazelnut syrup... half a cup full of this stuff is dangerous and almost sickening but I happily finished all of it of course!

While we sat by the riverside, we noticed something really strange hanging under a bridge... It looks like a person hanging there... It was probably just rope or nets or something but it reminds me of the ghosts from Pirates of the Carribean...

A snapshot of Dublin...

Waiting for the train to go to Sandycove!

Alas! The Irish seaside! Below you see a stretch of cement that I walked out on and climbed onto the rocks at the end of it. It was really really slippery.

Our main purpose for visiting Sandycove was to visit the tower that James Joyce wrote the beginning of Ulysses in. I've never read it but will eventually I am sure.


Some of the town, cliffs, and a castle in there... Not a very good pic.

A lovely view from the tower:

The three of us all go to University of Puget Sound and we happened to pick the same program:

The staircase to get to the top of the tower was very steep and narrow:

Frolicking on the rocks was, as far as I gathered, everyone's favorite part of the trip:

Jenna and I were frolicking in the grass but it looks like I'm going to attack Jenna and I don't know why I look like this...

It was pretty but honestly I'm spoiled going to college minutes away from basically the same thing.

Do you see the arm? Someone swimming! Ahhh!

And the classic jumping picture... I'm on the very left in case you couldn't tell. 

We had some free time so what else to do but find a bakery...

My scone I bought. It was simple and subtly sweet with some berries inside.

AND
we were blessed with a rainbow! And surely since we were in Ireland there must have been a Leprechaun with a pot of gold on one end!

And then we returned to Dublin too soon. It was a gray and sometimes-rainy day.

There was an interesting building with some fantastic quotes on it:

Gray sky. = Washington.

This is me at dinner with my first Irish coffee ever. I've always wanted to try one and what better place than in Dublin? As far as I know it has coffee (or espresso?) and Bailey's in it, and of course whipped cream and coffee flakes on the top. I liked it! It was really strong and it's one of those things I have to drink with a tall glass of iced water nearby.

Then, it was time to go out and discover some more Dublin nightlife. This is us being silly in our hostel room beforehand:

First, we went to an 80s club called Madonna which was fun for about 20 minutes:

Then I checked out a few other places, danced a lot, and met some very nice people!