Nora Goes to Denmark

“The Happiest People” is a segment from 60 Minutes that discusses why Danish people are the happiest in the world. It’s really worth the time it takes to watch.

The next day was Saturday, November 26. In the morning, we went to the National Portrait Gallery. I did a presentation on a portrait of Princess Diana with my group. Then we went to a pub for lunch, where CARRIE met me! In the afternoon, Carrie and I went shopping and had tea at Brown’s. Then we said our fond farewell and I headed out of the city to a football (soccer) game with my class, West Ham vs. Chelsea. After the game, we headed back to the city, had dinner, and then called it a night.

Literary London Day 1 (November 25):

In the morning, we visited Shakespeare’s Globe Theater for a tour and an acting workshop. It was really really cool, even though the theater is a reconstruction. I would love to go see a play there some day! For lunch, we went to a really amazing Turkish restaurant right near the theater. After lunch, the group split into two. My group headed over to the Churchill War Rooms. It was a very long walk, but we got to see lots of London sights along the way, including the London Eye, Big Ben, and the houses of Parliament. The Churchill War Rooms were absolutely fascinating. Everything is left exactly as it was when Churchill moved his operation the day after V-J day!!

Then we headed to Fortnum & Mason for High Tea. It was absolutely fabulous — we had finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, and lots of fancy desserts. We were all really full, so we decided to walk to our next activity, Billy Elliott!! We passed Buckingham Palace on the way — it was lit really beautifully. Billy Elliott was AMAZING — I saw it in New York a few years ago, but I liked it even better the second time! Afterwards, we were all really tired and headed back to our fabulous hotel.

The weekend before Thanksgiving, my BFF Laura visited from Spain! We had a really fun weekend including a trip to Malmö, canal tour, Christmas market in Nyhavn, Tivoli, and a night out in Copenhagen. It was SO FUN and SO GREAT to see her!

The next day was a traveling day, and we went around the Greek countryside. First we went to the Canal of Corinth, followed by an ancient racetrack. Next we went to see the Ancient Citadel of Mycenae. This is relatively undisturbed and absolutely fascinating to see. It dates back to as early as 1900 BC, long before there was written language. There is actually a surprising amount of archaeological evidence. It was SO COOL!!!! After lunch, we visited the modern town of Napflio (where I had AMAZING baklava) and then headed back to Athens and a great dinner.

In Greece, I missed quite a bit because I was sick the whole time. The first day that I participated in the trip was Tuesday, November 8. We visited the Acropolis! It was SO AWESOME! It felt completely unreal to be in this place that is so mythical and ancient! It was an absolutely beautiful day, as you can see in the photos. Then we went to the Athenian Agora, and had the rest of the day free. I had an AMAZING chicken gyro for lunch.

The next day was Thursday (November 3), and we visited Ostia Antica, an ancient city that was undisturbed for many years and excavated very well. It was really, really cool because it is exactly how it was in antiquity! That evening, we had another group dinner.

The day after that was Friday, November 4, and after some shopping in the morning we headed back to Copenhagen.

The next day was Wednesday, November 2. The first thing we visited was a trash heap of old broken amphoras from antiquity. It was actually very interesting. Then we hit up a cemetery, where Hank and I did our presentation on Keats (accompanied by a dramatic reading of his poem about Apollo). Then we visited the Circus Maximus, where the military was doing various exercises (and listening to Maroon 5 on their loudspeakers). We headed to a church nearby to visit the Mouth of Truth (Boca della Verita). Don’t worry, my hand survived! We then visited the Forum Boarium and the Capitoline Museum. After lunch, we had free time and went shopping, then went back to the hotel. That night, we had an amazing group dinner and then went out.

The next day was Tuesday (November 1), and we had a very busy day! In the morning, we visited the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. We had to sketch different structures in the forum (as you can see, my friend Hank got somewhat frustrated). We didn’t have lunch until around 3 PM, so we all were very tired by the end of the Forum. Then after lunch, we visited various other Fora and Baroque churches. The day ended with a really calm/nice dinner with some girls in my class.

The next day was Monday, October 31. We visited Vatican City! In the morning, we saw the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. After an amazing lunch that included pasta AND pizza, we headed over to St. Peter’s for a few hours, then wandered around, had dinner, and chilled at the hotel bar.