Amsterdam!

Once our plane landed in Amsterdam I could not keep myself from getting excited. I have always wanted to visit and for some reason knowing that one side of Brian's family is from Holland just made it that much more special. My goal was to get tons of great pictures.

On our first day we arrived at our beautiful hotel in famous Rembrandt square. We visited The Our Lady Hospital which was if I'm being honest..really hard to concentrate in because I was in Amsterdam! It was a beautiful facility though. Couldn't tell you what they talked about on the other hand:)

After our academic visit we went to the Van Gogh Museum which was pretty awesome for me because he is one of my all time favorite artists. I was really tired though, so I was disappointed in my lack of energy.

Once our visit was over we had a group reservation at Brasserie Harkema, a gorgeous restaurant in the middle of downtown. We went right to bed after dinner..well because we were tired at it was midnight!

The second day was also filled with great activities. We started off with a bike tour around Amsterdam which ended up being one of my favorite things that I did. Our guide was awesome and the city was just breath taking. We saw the wooden draw bridges, houseboats, canals of course, Dam square, the war monument, the Nieuw Market, coffeeshops, Vondelpark, the Jordaan district, etc. Oh! and I finally got the see the I AmSterdam sign for myself! It was really cool to see the city from this point of view!

After the bike tour and a visit to Hospice Kuria (which is where I've decided I want to live at the end of my life) our group went to the Anne Frank house, which our of everything was my favorite part. It was completely emotional and I had chills the entire time. I literally stood where Anne Frank slept in fear for two years. Seeing the personal videos from her best friend and hearing her own father say he didn't know his daughter as well as he thought he did after reading her diary was just incredible. You CANNOT go to Amsterdam without visiting the Anne Frank house. It will leave you feeling...well she for yourself, just go. After the visit I went out to a amazing dinner with Em, Tayler, Pia, and Ida. We laughed a ton, ate great food, and laughed more. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.

I could hardly sleep in anticipation of the CHEESE I would be getting the next day. Our group visited Zaanse Schans, which is now a historical little town that has a cheese mill, fresh ice cream, windmills, and traditional green houses..including wooden shoes!! It was a beautiful day and everyone just loved making fun of my love for cheese and Gouda specifically. There are plenty of pictures of my face while eating cheese..thanks guys:) After our visit we had time to watch USA play Algeria. We went to Boom Chicago, a local bar that had a great vibe. I had a Corona with Lime. VERRRY European:) In the last 4 minutes the US won!!! After the game we all ate together at Restaurant De Nissen which to be honest I cannot remember. I'm sure it was good or else I would have remembered. The night ended with a tour of the Red Light District. This was extremely interesting to me and if you're really curious I'll discuss why on our own time. Too many thoughts to type at 1:30 am.

On our final day in Amsterdam we had our last academic visit to the TB clinic. This was really interesting and I'm glad I was awake enough this time to soak it all in. We all had lunch at Le Rendez-Vous which was just ok and then we all toured the Heineken Brewery. I HATE Heineken, but it was really cool and if you like it..you get A LOT of free beer throughout so I would suggest going. The people in my group got extra because I didn't drink mine:)

The entire trip was so great and I would absolutely go back again. I had such a great time and a little part of me was sad to head back to Copenhagen so soon.

P.S. I have a TON of pictures...this is only a fraction of them.

Sailing the Coast of Denmark

I love the water and I was so happy when Jess suggested that we go sailing one weekend. So Em, Tayler, Jess, and I signed up to go together. We read the description and it sounded fun. We finally got an informational email the day before saying we would be like crew members and we would cook all of the meals for each other, do a night watch, clean, etc. This sounded like fun to me...kind of, but none of us were completely impressed. The weather forecast was no favorable and so we all went in excited..."ish." It was cold and rainy and we did have to sleep on benches in a room with 20 other people (one of which who snored). We were on breakfast crew and we had night watch right before so I woke up at 5:45am so get ready to get up. Sadly, I woke up about 3 hours after I went to bed because we ate dinner at 11:30pm and everyone stayed up drinking keeping those that wanted to sleep awake. In sounds like I'm complaining...and well, I guess I am. But the next next (our one full day) the weather was beautiful. It was chilly and a coat and blanket were needed to sit on the deck, but the sky was awesome and we made such great meals for each other. I couldn't help but think about my grandpa. The water was so calm and still and it reminded me of how when he used to take my brother and I fishing he would sit there in silence, just watching the water and patiently waiting for a bite. It smelled like him too. Everything was so peaceful and I just know that he had to have been there in those moments with me.

The best part...the sun set. It was amazing how the colors melted into each other and I a little part of me wishes that someone will take me out sailing for the sun set again.

Facing my Fear

Note: It's hard to see how high this is...but it's 18 stories. The buildings in the background are 3 stories. It's a 70 Meter jump.

I hate heights. Period. I without a doubt feel more uncomfortable with being up high than I do with anything else. I'm not sure what it is about heights. Maybe the vulnerability and sheer fact that falling to my death is not the way I want to go. So why I ask myself would I ever agree to bungee jumping...?

Good question. I think it's because no matter how much I hate heights I also love adrenaline. Every time I'm on a roller coaster going up that never ending hill I think "why did I do this?" Or when I'm on the swings at places like Tivoli and I'm only strapped in by a flimsy bar that I could get out of and two skinny "metal" linked chains holding me to the rusting piece above. My body is flying around and being pulled in every direction in the wind and all I can do is hang on for dear life. But for some sick reason I love it all the same. I don't let it hold me back. Climbing to the top of the church tower was enough. I mean I can only make the little kids go along the outside rail for so long. Nonetheless, I have always wanted to sky dive and bungee jump and I knew that I may never get the chance to jump again. So..I said yes and actually showed up.

The weather was not ideal. Cold and windy. The clouds were filled with so much moisture and I was certain that it was going to rain. All day in class I struggled to concentrate because of the nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wrote both Brian and my parents emails and after thinking about them later on, I realised that they sounded morbid. I must have been more scared than even I thought.

After finally reaching the jump landing the wind had picked up a lot and the bungee guys were even commenting on how cold and windy it was. The two of them were definitely giving me too much information on the weather situation (that rimes:).

Realizing that I was by far the most nervous and knowing that after picking straws I would "luckily" be going last (yeah right) they started talking to me. When it was finally my turn I felt excited, but at the same time I could not help but think, "this is crazy."

I literally froze and had a cold stone face right after the elevator looking shaft took me and the one other person it had room for five feet off the ground...I thought to myself this guy who I met about 30 minutes ago could be the last human I see. hmm? IT was scary lifting up and then being moved out over the water..and then up some more.

I reached the top and couldn't look down. The wind was blowing hard and my brain kind of shut off. The bungee guy told me to move forward and move my feet over the edge. I could feel the cold metal on my bare feet and I slid forward until I could see my toes curled over the edge. I looked down. crap. It was weird feeling the wind all around me. The bungee guy told me to put out my arms...I asked, "you mean let go?" He slightly laughed and then said "Yes, you can do this." He told me one last time that the equipment was fine I was strapped in and he would hold onto my arm until I was ready. It took me three times to let go of the post. The wind carried his voice saying "1..2..3" into my ear and I just let go. I let my body fall forward and I fell into the sky. I was floating and falling towards the water faster and faster. It wasn't until I felt the line recoil that I knew I had done it. Up until then I thought, "maybe..this isn't happening." The hardest part was letting go, but after that it was the most freeing feeling. The recoil was scary and I felt like I was falling over and over again..and don't get wrong...being back on the ground was the best feeling in the world. I only know that I screamed because of the evidence on video. Actually, I said a lot of things. It was weird to see my body free falling in the air. I looked like a rag doll. And my eyes felt funny for a few hours from all of the blood rushing to my head, but it was really really amazing and I am so happy that I was able to overcome my fear. I think the Big Guy was watching out for me. Next up...skydiving!

Tivoli

Tivoli is an outdoor amusement park that can be found in the middle of downtown Copenhagen. Inside coasters and rides can be found all over and all of the carnival foods you can imagine are being made. I rode all of the big rides...including the swings which is the tallest and fastest in the world. The entire time I had a death grip on the seat and felt so uncomfortable I could not even enjoy the view of the city. We (Mark, Jess, Sam, Deanna, Molly, and Dan) all went on this tower demon drop ride which was conveniently the same height as what I would be bungee jumping off of the next day. Everyone that I was with was laughing and talking about how nice it was to be able to see how high up we were going to be and how easy it was for them to look down the whole time. Me on the other hand...I was making noises that I don't even think were human and looked straight ahead the entire time. I'm also pretty certain that I had a scared shitless face on because a few people that were watching the ride asked me if I was ok after I got off. All in all in was fun to ride some coasters and stuff, but this place has nothing on Cedar Point.

21 years and red velvet cake dreams

Saturday June 12th-

Today I turned 21. Not a big deal here. Not a big deal to me, but everyone made me feel so special and I couldn't help but smile when I went to bed last night:) Mark and Emily made me a homemade peanut butter cheesecake and surprised me with it on Friday morning before class. Oh, and yes I said peanut butter and cheesecake in the same sentence. OMG and I almost forgot to say that they added an Oreo crust! I mean, that is just sick. Sickly awesome!!

After the dinner party and movie that same night I was completely satisfied.

Anyways, the day of. ok, I'm focused (the cheesecake had me thinking). Saturday was such a nice day. Em, Tayler and I woke up early, got coffee (so yummy, Tiramisu flavored!) and hoped on the train to Sweden to shop. The weather really help out for us. It would rain for maybe 3 minutes and then be sunny and beautiful. I've given up on the wind thing here..the flat land really has no control on the gusts that send little children flying through the air.

Ok, quick side story. The three of us were sitting at lunch and I was staring out the window at the people walking by and the wind was movin. I happened to look at the perfect moment when these kids and their parents walked by this huge fountain and the wind just whoooshhhed on and all of this water came flying out and super soaked them all. I had to laugh. Sorry cute Swedish family. You'll look back and laugh, I promise.

Back on track. So the three of us just walked around Malmo Sweden and did some shopping. I lucked out and got good deals on a belt, dress, and skirt and the others got a few cute things too. Like I said we had the best lunch. The spinach and ricotta pasta I had was to. die. for. We all loved our food and it was so nice to sit and chat with the girls. Tayler had to head back and Em and I stayed and walked around a bit more and soaked in our Swedish trip.

On the way back we even had more of an adventure! We knew our stop was next and so we had all of our stuff in hand. Norreport was called and we stood up and walked towards the door. This man freaking ran in the door as it was closing, blocking our way out and his bag gets stuck. Ha. So he gets it out and Em is frantically pushing the door open button because we're stuck inside and she is pushing and pushing and looking make at me wide eyed going "Brrriitt!!" and all I can do is laugh hysterically at the situation. This poor girl is on the other side of the door staring at us like we're crazy, I'm peeing my pants, this old man is standing behind us trying to speak in Danish and throwing us his hands, and Em is still pushing away.

We were convinced that the train patrol would come around check our ticket and say, "well well well ladies, looks like you missed your stop," and fine us because that does happen and they had checked our tickets 2 times during our trip there and once on our way back prior to the mishap. Lucky for us, we hoped off at the next stop and no ticket was given.

Not lucky for us, we had to walk 25 minutes back to Norreport in the 80 mph wind, but we laughed the whole way back.

Once we got back both of us relaxed. Everyone insisted that we go to dinner and I'm happy they did because if I didn't do anything for the bday I knew I would have regretted it.

Em, Jess, Mark, and I went to Nyhavn, which is right on the harbor and we ate at this little seafood place on the canal. After we got seated we started talking to the older couple next to us and found out, that contrary to our belief, they were also Americans. He was on business and his wife got to come along (as per the usual, they had money I'm assuming). They were so sweet and we talked for awhile about where we were from, they granddaughter, and my gang brought up that it was my 21st birthday.

Jess ordered a bottle of Prosecco Champagne for the four of us. We sat and enjoyed the bottle and talked amongst ourselves and the couple next to us. Right before we ordered and the couple was getting ready to leave, he signaled the waiter to come over and asked to have the Champagne moved to his bill (we ordered cheap for the menu which was a nice $85).

It was so sweet and just such a nice start to the meal. He absolutely did not have to do that, but we all appreciated it non the less.

I started with some of the best bruschetta I've ever had. Then I ordered a salmon pasta dish which came and looked mouth watering. We were all enjoying each other and it was just such a great meal of laughing, talking (well all but Jess...no voice), eating, and drinking. One thing I did say was how I thought my dish was a little fishy tasting considering that salmon, in my opinion, is a mild fish. I boxed half and Mark, Em, and I headed home to enjoy a piece of cheesecake.

The three of us watched US verse England in the World cup and talked about our trip to come. It really was a fun finish to a great birthday.

3:30am- I wake up feeling nauseous and go to the bathroom and get sick. I proceed to be sick for 3 hours. Damn food poisoning. I knew the fish and cream sauce didn't taste right. A girl didn't even get sick from alcohol on her 21st (2 glasses of champagne wouldn't do that to me). Figures, the food would bring me down:)

P.S. Thanks to everyone who made my birthday special. Even though I don't like to be the center of attention and stuff....It really means a lot to me.

P.P.S I only took one picture on my birthday and it was at dinner of the four of us and unfortunately it's on my camera which won't upload pictures to my computer...sooo you'll just have to imagine it:)

P.P.P.S. Don't you just want to eat that "googled" red velvet piece of cake?!!!

American/Hong Kong Dinner Party

Friday June 11th-

This time it was our turn. After having the Danish dinner party, the American and Chinese students wanted to cook a traditional meal for the Danish girls to enjoy. Some how I became the coordinator...

We (the Americans) had the hardest time thinking of what is considered True American food until someone said, THANKSGIVING! So our meal consisted of beer butted chicken (turkey is only seasonal here), bread (of course), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cheesy potatoes...yep I said three different kinds of potatoes, apple salad, glazed carrots, some other stuff I can't remember because all I wanted was the sweet potatoes, two kinds of cookies, and strawberry rhubarb coffee cake. The Chinese students made spring rolls, sweet and sour chicken with ginger dumplings, and uh...something else. It was all sooo good and I ate like an American that night. Definitely a two belt notcher.

This night consisted of lots of alcohol...again, wine for me and lots of eating.

After dinner, Europe FINALLY got Sex and the City 2 which cost me a mere $22....yeah.

The movie theater was amazzzing and so big. Each seat was like first class on an airplane and it was all carpeted and there was so much space. I thought the movies was really cute too, which made me not feel so bad about the extensive Kroner. I told myself, "Britt, you would have seen it when you got back to the States anyways."

After the movie, which during I turned 21 I went to bed:)

....And I slept like a baby

City Biker

The past three days I have been following a District Nurse around the city who specializes in Primary Care. I chose this specifically as my clinical choice because a) I wanted to ride my bike around Copenhagen b) I wanted to see something that was not common in the US (home health care) c) I want to ride my bike around the city:)

First off, I had to get back into the swing of being asleep by 10 pm for my early morning bike ride to the headquarters center. This was not particularly easy considering that it stays like here until 11pm easily. It was also pretty hard to wake up because it has been raining conveniently everyday that I have to ride on my bike all day. But none the less, I chose to do this and I really enjoyed it. Even the rain, sadly. It was such a nice change from the mundane Metro rides into the city and the crowds of people cramped on the public transportation. I can see why some nurses would like it. Although, I do have to say that it is a really different kind of nursing. It could be seen as annoying to have to ride through traffic in the rain, snow, and cold all day long only to be shielded by your clients apartment which is 5 flights up and you're required to work, not drink tea and chat about the day. It's a really general type of nursing and in my three days I saw everything from medication administration and set up (14-16 days of meds separated by time and date), suture removal after a hip replacement, TPN tear down and set up, stoma dressing change, Staph wound with dressing change, suicidal visit, terminally ill patients with lung and colon cancer, dementia patients, etc. After a few years of experience, if I lived in Denmark, I think that I would want to be a District nurse. It really is rewarding. I would really need to invest in a rain suit though, because my rain coat alone isn't doing much for my sopping wet jeans that literally are plastered to my legs. I was considering having them cut off me. The nice thing about the rain though...one more excuse not to take a shower for the day! Sorry mom, I know. Gross. But what can I say:)

I have been so consumed with my clinicals and writing papers that I really haven't done much else. On Wednesday, Mark and I went into the city so that I could mail some postcards to my grandparents, we could get our Eurail pass, he could look for shoes, and..so we could have an excuse to get ice cream. Mine was sadly, disappointing, but his was sooo good. Ironically, or actually not ironically, the largest ice cream at this place was called the Amerikano. I was pissed:) Danish people east more ice cream than I do and if I had a choice I would probably just have a line hooked up to me that fed me ice cream continuously. It's only that so many Danish people smoke...speeds up the metabolism people!

Tomorrow I am back to class again. Luckily I have finished all of my work for now, so I can hopefully enjoy the rainy weekend that is to come. One thing that I have to touch on again, because it really is becoming a concern of mine is the love I have for the peanut butter here. It really is so sad and I told Emily tonight that I'm not buying it again for a few weeks. This is so gross, but I have almost finished my second jar in 2.5 weeks...ugh. They are small jars, not like the ones at home and it's real peanut butter, organic, with no preservatives, but still I can't keep putting it on everything. Emily said in a laughing, but concerned tone that maybe I should consider only putting it on my sandwich or my apple or my banana...not all three. She may have a valid point.

American/Hong Kong dinner for the Danish girls and then finally seeing Dex and The City 2! Hope it's worth the $22 I'm paying for it. Damn Danish cost of living. Birthday this weekend...all I want is red velvet cake, man.

(pictures: top- Me, Em, Tayler, and Mark outside the Louisiana Art museum & bottom- Me after my first bike ride back from class in the pouring rain...you can't tell but my jeans were once light and my hair is a nappy mess:)

Andy Warhol after Munch:Louisana Art Museum

Today was another early morning. I was so excited to see one of my most favorite artists, Andy Warhol. Well...not see him, but rather pieces from his life time of work. It was amazing being in the presence of his famous Marilyn paintings, his Four Foot Flowers, and possibly one of my favorites, his silk screened diamond dust painting. The museum was H U G E and even I got tired of walking around and soaking it all in, so I can only imagine how Em, Tayler, and Mark felt. We all pushed through together.

Right now Emily, Mark, and I are busy planning our travels for after we leave and I can't believe that we've been here for 3 weeks already. It's pretty crazy how fast this is flying by. The rest of the day is devoted to travel planning, so I will update you later this week on how my clinical rotation goes and how riding a bike in this crazy bike city is!

:)