Becoming Danish

Hello again,

So, my one night of couchsurfing actually turned into about 5 nights. On Monday, after lugging my ridiculously heavy baggage up about 7 flights of stairs (second floor here really means 3rd), I checked into my apartment only to find it void of roommates and without electricity or a working wireless connection. Fortunately, as I was wandering the streets of Aalborg later that day I ran into Martin (one of my couchsurfing hosts) who invited me to stay as long as I needed until things started to settle for me. Since then I have only spent one night in my apartment. Martin and Rahul have been lifesavers thus far. I haven't been able to navigate very well, considering nothing here is in English. So, the two of them have taken me in, fed me, given me tours of the city and the university and as much information about living here as they can muster AND they have helped me with my apartment troubles. Without them I would be severely overwhelmed. As stoked as I am to be living in a foreign country, stepping completely out of my comfort zone has been more trying than I expected. I've come to realize how much I value the company of familiar faces and environments, what homesickness truly feels like and that I've been a bit naive about the fact that I really haven't ever been on my own before. However, I think doing this alone is going to be very good for me. It has forced me to ask for and accept help even if I feel stupid about it and to be extra-outgoing. I met someone the other day who was shocked when I told them I came to Denmark alone and don't know a soul. He told me I am very brave, which in itself was surprisingly encouraging. Yesterday was a better day. Martin showed me around some more and then I met with my "buddy," Kathrine, who was assigned by the university. She was very nice, closer to my age than Martin and Rahul, and not to mention a girl! It's nice to have some female company. She took me to a few places in Aalborg I haven't seen yet like the street of bars and the Aalborg Castle. The castle looks more like the Danish form of a plantation home than a place of royalty, but it was still beautiful. Kathrine also helped me shop for groceries by translating when I couldn't figure out what an item was. I was a little disappointed when I discovered peanut butter is a rarity in Denmark (Kathrine has only tried it once and didn't like it). Later in the evening I made dinner with Rahul, who gave me a cell phone, and then met Kathrine and her friends at an International Students Night event. I still have no electricity or roommates and don't really want to spend much time at my apartment yet, but tonight Martin is hosting a couchsurfer dinner at which I will have the opportunity to meet more people. Tomorrow morning I am taking an 11 hour train ride to Cologne, Germany where I'm meeting my friend Cliff. We are going to spend a few days skipping about the country and then ride to Aalborg together. By that time more people should have arrived and school will be starting. 

Right now I'm going to go badger the office some more about the issues with my apartment and activate my cell phone. I have to say I truly admire those of you who have traveled around the world alone. You really are brave. If any of you have tips or advice, they would be greatly appreciated.

Take care all!

Megan

If it weren't for aeroplanes and their ports...

I left PDX at about 7:30 am Friday morning, after forcing myself to stay awake all night and saying my goodbyes. I expected to land in New Jersey sometime around 3:40pm and catch a flight to Copenhagen at 5:25pm. Well, if any of you know the stakes of traveling you know things can go wrong. Well things went wrong, terribly wrong. My flight to New Jersey ended up having to circle around above Ohio for an hour or so in hopes of avoiding a storm over Jersey. We ended up circling for so long we had to land in Philadelphia to refuel. Every few minutes the captain would say something like "we will be receiving an update in about 45 minutes" over the intercom. Forty-five minutes eventually became about 5 hours. Yes, almost 200 people sat on a hot, stuffy and STATIONARY airplane for 5 hours. However, I was impressed by how patient everyone was with the crew. Eventually we took off again and braved the lightning and turbulence, which there was a lot of. When we landed in Newark I discovered my flight had left a long time before...without me on it. Well, most of the airport was chaotic due to all the delays and since I've never really traveled alone before I was pretty worked up myself. A very nice lady from Camas, WA helped me re-orient myself and find the long line I had to stand in to figure out the next step to take. I ended up standing in that line for about 3 hours and I was near the beginning. It turned out the next flight to Copenhagen didn't leave until 5:25pm the next day. So, they put me up in a fairly nice hotel room and I spent the night in New Jersey. My flight to Copenhagen ended up being delayed a couple of hours, but after everything else that wait seemed like nothing. After 8 or so hours on the plane I took a 4 and a half hour train ride to Aalborg. Considering it's Sunday, I can't check in with the school until tomorrow. So, I used good old couchsurfing.com and found a couple of people to take me in for one night. One of them actually picked me up from the station and is now fussing over me (cleaning his house and feeding me and what not). It was quite a ridiculous journey, but if it weren't for aeroplanes and their ports, I wouldn't be here! Aalborg is a very cool city; quaint might be a better word.

Anyway, I made it!

Missing and loving you all

Off to Mexico

I am off to Mexico on Saturday morning. I'm kind of nervous figuring out how to get from the airport in Mexico City to the bus station, getting on the right bus to Oaxaca and then grabbing a taxi that will take me to my homestay family. I am excellent at getting lost, but hopefully this won't be one of those times. I can't wait to go though. I don't know who is going to be down in Oaxaca this semester, but once phone and address stuff is worked out we should try and meet up. Happy travels.

Yo Sup!

Sup! I mean sup sup. SUP!!! Been a whilesup! I miss all of you traveling bearcatzzz (or should I say traveling binturongzz)!

Last time I wrote, I had just found my job at the Industrial Cafe and Saloon, so I feel the need to post again as I have just completed my last day of work and thus ended the chapter (for now) of mustard stains and ever-exciting rides on Bus 15. (I think that my most interesting Trimet trip of the summer actually occurred aboard Bus 20 when the woman sitting directly behind me was in labor.)

I had two goals at the beginning of the summer: Really get to know Portland and its public transportation and reconnect with old friends in order to develop some kind of roots.

As for the former, I am confident that I will always be able to return to this city and find new funky neighborhoods and awesome hang outs, but I definitely feel that I have gotten much more comfortable getting around town these last few months. Working at the Industrial Cafe has enabled me to be downtown every day and get pretty well acquainted with cool areas of NW PDX.

In regards to my second goal, I feel that slowly but surely I have (re)developed a family of friends who I know I can count on for late night adventures and general good times whenever it is that I return to this place. The beginning of the summer was difficult for me as I had hoped to reconnect with friends from high school who now seem more like strangers. However, I made a conscious choice not to let their apathy get me down, and I wound up hanging out with a different crowd of friends who have been so warm and welcoming to me. It's hard for me to leave now as I feel so comfortable and happy surrounded by these great people, but I am confident now that these friendships will still be strong whenever it is that we are all in the same place next.

An added bonus of living in the Portland Metropolitan Area has been frequent trips to Salem to see all of the bearcats who are hanging around this summer.

I had a party Saturday night in celebration of summer's glory, and I wish you all could have been here. It was the perfect way to cap off this beautiful season.

Incidentally, I got a call from our fellow Sup Sup blogger Tyler McMonkey today, and he was in Northampton, Massachusetts, which is where I will be in three days! Hearing Tyler describe the town a little and realizing how soon I will be there has gotten me so excited!

I am thinking of you all and hoping to hear from you soon!

Sarscat

I missed summer, but I don't miss summer

Things are starting to wind down at the docks of Kenai Fjords Tours, so I have escaped for two days. That means one for hiking AND one for catching up, which is why I find myself here at a computer at long last. Now that the snow has finally cleared off of the mountains, it's time to hit the trails. Oh, wait- summer's over now. It's cold out at night and the sun sets a whole lot earlier. Well, that was brief- sorry I blinked and missed it!

Well, I've learned up here that I really don't care for hot weather all that much, and that the rain is really neat... but boy, do I miss swimming. I've been jumping into Ressurrection Bay on our tour sometimes when we stop for dinner at Fox Island and all of our 140-odd passengers head up to the lodge for their salmon bake dinner. It is a little brisk, and (perhaps fortunately) I don't have all that much time to wallow around in the waves like an under-buoyant sea otter, so I only kind of get my fix. But at least I have that. I'm glad I didn't apply for a job in a desert!

I've turned into a sea life geek, for those of you who might be wondering how all of this marine sightseeing might be effecting me. Today I was walking down our one main street with Ian and I was identifying sea bird calls as they echoed out of the Sea Life Center across the street. Geek! I also have an affection for humpback whales and orcas that rivals a child's feelings for the family dog. I don't know what I'm going to do when I leave here and can't see them nearly every day anymore... but I am getting orca call recordings from one of the boat captains. Definitely going to be among my top-rated tracks in my iTunes.

In case you're wondering about my life plan... well, I don't have one. Plenty of ideas are percolating in my head, including working in Hawaii (on wildlife tour boats again, or on a farm) or Nova Scotia (on an organic farm) or at a ski resort somewhere out west, but I've decided that it is, after all, pretty sensible to call these ideas rather than plans because that's all that they are and that's ok. I don't need to make any of them into a plan until it's time and I'm ready. I did call this morning and decline my Antarctica position, since the paperwork and physical/dental exams are near-impossible to complete when you're on a boat for 11 hours a day and you don't get internet and have no phone charger (for now), plus you're Julia and forget (usually just accidentally) to do things that feel an awful lot like chores sometimes. Besides, for my year off I am hoping to do something a little more enriching and meaningful than wash dishes for 10 hours a day, 6 days a week for 5 months. Antarctica does sound like a fun adventure, and I'm certainly not done with the thought of going to the Ice, but perhaps some better option than a dining attendant is on my horizon. Anyways, I'm really looking forward to road-tripping with a couple of Alaska friends back south to Willamette for a visit and then back east to Maine, hopefully with my brother in tow from the midwest on, to take time to explore Maine and hang out with my family and relatives. When was the last time I did that... never? I think it's long-overdue. So that is my only plan so far. But I'll keep you posted. Thanks, everyone, for the ideas and encouragement and wisdom you've sent my way.

Love to all, Jules

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

When last we left our heroes... umm... well here are some cool pictures.

From Lenin to Lenin

The remains of past Soviet occupation caught up with me as I was biding my time near an old manor building, now a museum, and wandered around the corner to behind it. What I saw were old Soviet statues, of Lenin, of known and unknown soldiers. The whole encounter, of still seeing larger-than-life stone and metal Lenins side by side was truly surprising. Usually I consider the Soviet Union dead and buried, but any culture has many modes of resiliency, as we were quite vigorously reminded in the Bronze Soldier affair last year.