Denmark, Sweden

Denmark

Overall, the people of Scandinavia are really nice and hospitable. The Danish guy that owned the apartment we stayed in the first few days in Copenhagen was telling us how the Danish don’t like to overwork. The owner of A Slice of San Francisco (pretty much center of the city, AMAZING cheesecake) right next door to our hostel told us about Denmark’s health care system. We also learned about the stipend you get to go to college from “Danish Daniel” who was our walking tour guide. I guess if you get taken care of well, you treat others well ;D!

One thing I can’t get over are… Danishes. The baked goods. The cost of food in Denmark and Sweden are pretty similar to the Bay Area, so it’s not really frugal to eat at bakeries everyday… We tried buying “bulk” apples and carrots from the grocery store for better deals, but they turned bad quickly. From now on, the only bulk we’ll buy will not be fresh produce!

Copenhagen itself was exciting, though. After the first day’s walking tour (where it was so cold some of my fingers went numb!), we also visited The Little Mermaid sculpture, saw Amilienborg’s changing of the guards, visited the botanical gardens, the New Opera House, the New Playhouse, a cool library, and Christiania. I also finally went climbing and walked an hour and a half back to the hostel (my feet were hurting). I ended up walking through the rest of Christiania on my way back, and it was pretty calm compared to the entrance/touristy area of it.

Sweden

I got sick! It was bound to happen since Alison was sick in Oslo. The first day in Malmo, we walked to Folkets Park, which is supposed to be the oldest public park in the world?… It was small and unimpressive. And mainly a park for small children. A few days later we discovered King’s Park, which seemed to separate the more… mundane part of Malmo from the more exciting areas. EXCEPT FOR the chocolate factory. Malmo Chokladfabrik had some reaaaally good chocolate. We would not have found out about it if it wasn’t for our roommate for two nights, Laurie (thank you!!), who we plan on visiting in Lyon, France!

I climbed again, the day before we left Malmo. This was a bouldering gym only 30 minutes walking distance from the hostel. I went with our new roommate, Melissa, and hopefully got her addicted! This was pretty much the first time I tried climbing a little harder since I rolled my ankle in February. This was mainly a bouldering gym unlike the one in Copenhagen, so it was easier to make small talk with other climbers. A few of us were working on an overhanging problem at the front center of the gym. It was super fun, and my new friends who I’ll probably never see again were really nice and helpful.

Some signs at the hostel talked about how Sweden is known for wanting to be ordinary (I guess they care more about things like efficiency and functionality rather than showy and flashy). Another sign said not to think that Swedes are boring, though, because they like a little flair here and there, haha. It definitely seems to hold true.

Next up is Amsterdam. Another new friend from the hostel, Stephie and her grandmother, are from a town closeby. We told them about the amazing cheesecake in Copenhagen since they were heading there today, but Stephie’s grandmother assured us that she made really good cheesecake! I’m excited and anxious about Amsterdam because we’re right in the middle of all the tulips blossoming. Keukenhof Gardens and the tulip fields around it will be beautiful! Wish us luck for our next hostel. It’s right in the middle of the red light district. It was cheap. At least I’m not sick anymore!

Edit: at Copenhagen airport right now waiting. There were free alcohol tastings, and we made more friends with the people working in the candy section! Free tastings of black liquorice candies! Some are not bad.

Expectations, Foreignity, Clearing the Smoke

I did not think I would ever be seen as a local if I left my own country. I always thought if I was in an Asian country people would know that I was super Americanized, and every other country would assume I was from China or Japan (“pas Japonaise!” was a common phrase I said during my year in Paris).

Since we left at the beginning of the month, people have spoken to me in Icelandic once and Danish more than once! It’s probably not really a big deal, but it honestly does feel nice to feel like a local when you’re not.

A couple days ago, Alison and I decided to stick our heads into Rådhushaven, Copenhagen’s City Hall. They were displaying 100 stories from immigrants from the 1950s until now and asking them about how foreign they felt. We were able to go through maybe 15% of the more recent posters since it was the end of the day and were pretty exhausted. They were mostly Syrian refugees.

A really interesting thing about this exhibit was that they brought in the same refugees to tell stories at small tables. You got to understand them on a more personal level rather than reading about people’s lives on the internet.

Imagine how much more sympathetic one could be if they bothered to talk to someone they felt had nothing in common with them. Like people say, don’t judge someone until you’ve heard their story.

I have always wanted to travel to Scandinavia for the scenery and Copenhagen because I heard a bit about a good life/work balance and small pay gaps amongst careers. Alison read a study that Norway (and Iceland if I recall correctly?) was one of the happiest countries.

I had a really interesting conversation (okay, I’m usually a listener…) with a native Norwegian living in another country about her opinions and experiences with Norway, and it really seemed like it may not be as happy as we thought. It basically makes me feel like I need to take everything with a grain of salt when it comes to a lot of things. Studies about people, health, well being. 

I know I may be sounding a bit vague now, but the main point is not to trust everything we read. I also know that I’m starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist a couple days after the March for Science, but I’m not trying to make this about questioning 1+1=2. This is more about the non-science things in life.

An example is how Alison decided she wanted to live in Iceland sometime before her second visit to the country. After we went around the entirety of the island, though, she decided this was definitely not for her! Another could be how I thought I would be seeing perfectly happy people everywhere in Scandinavian countries because they were run efficiently and ethically. I’m now trying to make that decision not based off of videos and articles highlighting the reasons why a place can be good/bad.

Even though I had a slightly unpleasant first day/night in the hostel in which I’m staying, other experiences are showing me that Copenhagen is a very dope place. If I was to live here for a while, I’m sure I would achieve a deeper sense of what makes it the way it is.

Once again I have written much more than I initially thought I would. We are off to cross over to Malmo, Sweden tomorrow after getting cheesecake from Alison’s ex coworker’s aunt’s shop just around the corner.

Oh, the pastries here… I wish I could send some back home!

Post-Iceland, Norway

Currently 9 hours ahead of Pacific time.

I’m taking advantage of some down time while waiting 40 minutes at a restaurant reminiscent of a viking meeting hall. When entering, you are awed by an elongated opening to the upper floor, where the sunken gathering place’s fire pit and extends upward. This is a brewery, and I have a porter. Vocabulary and description will slowly (or quickly–as I haven’t had food yet) simplify.

The rest of Iceland. It is possible to camp in your vehicle at a parking lot as log as you have permission. We were only denied once. It seems like it is not a good idea to ask to camp at a hotel or hostel’s lot. Any other parking lot, when the campgrounds nearby are closed for winter, should be fine as long as you don’t pour food remnants down your drain and are off to the side. As long as you aren’t a bother, you’re probably alright. But ask first!

Instead of going to Blue Lagoon, Alison and I went to the northern version of it. Probably cheaper, most likely much fewer people, no clay. I don’t mind, I have my own clay. Speaking of! Because of rushing the first few days of arriving in Iceland, I had not had time to take care of my skin–even cleansing. Some people can get away with not washing their faces everyday. I cannot. By the second half of our trip we realized we were on track of driving the entirety of the Ring Road in 5 days (which is fast), so we started to take our time getting from place to place. I have to say, it’s nice to have some sort of routine in an… eccentric lifestyle. It’s very grounding. 

We did not see the northern lights. Your best chances of seeing them are in the middle of winter. Alison came here a couple years ago at the beginning of winter and still hasn’t seen it! We also weren’t able to visit the northwestern fjords because road conditions were not quite optimal with our vehicle. Fjords are fingers of water that reach into land.
Our last day of driving was our most touristy day outside of Reykjavik because we did the Golden Circle (Thingvellir, the original Geysir, and Gulfoss). I won’t say much about this because it’s probably easy to read about elsewhere.

Story about cheese and meat platter at a restaurant downtown Reykjavik later. All you need to know was that that happened.

…

Ok dinner has been nommed and beer has been gulped. Firstly, everything is REALLY expensive in Norway. Pretty much, add 20%. Secondly, food is good! I had a salmon dish last night and seafood soup tonight. Alison’s brother (who paid for dinner tonight–thanks again!) had lamb shank and whoahhh so much melty and flavorful fat!

Rewind! We arrived in Bergen Friday. Pictures to come… Few words needed. Today (Saturday), we took a train from Bergen to Voss, where we spent half the time at a café and half the time chillin at a bus stop because Easter really messes with all the schedules for… everything. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are pretty much all holidays.

The bus took us from Voss to Gudvangen. Their inn/souvenir shop/restaurant structure was pretty interesting and had a pretty cool  a steel handrailing. We took a boat cruise to Flam, where we’re staying the night before taking one of the most picturesque train rides in Europe? The world? Something. I’ll let myself be wowed tomorrow.

Je suis fatigué. Bonne nuit!

Iceland, Part II

I haven’t lost a phone in six years. Ask my mom how many I lost before that =_=

It’s pretty ironic how just one day prior Alison took a picture of me while I stood at the edge of a cliff on the Northern coast, contemplating about all the things I wouldn’t be able to capture in photos to show you. It was also foreshadowing when my phone’s camera stopped working the day before. Life is funny, isn’t it?

The embarrassing story is that I probably dropped my phone on the beach when I was taking pictures of a large molten rock formation. By the time I wanted to do the scramble down the hill (cliff? It was an in-between) again and cross a stream, the tide already rose, and it would have been too late anyway.

While driving to the location of this dumb cool looking rock, I was really frustrated that the gravel approach was such a long and pot hole-filled road – maybe a little too bumpy for our van. To try and make myself feel better about my hand gripping the steering wheel, I told Alison I was hoping this would be one of those situations where it’s worth it in the end. Hah.

The good thing is the last person that came up for the day offered to go back down and help me search again, which was unexpectedly nice, but it was starting to get dark. The parking area was down a steep gravel road, and the drive back to anywhere was frustrating enough, and it was COLD. I used my better judgement and declined since going down again may have meant putting our lives at risk. A phone is definitely not worth it!

I am slightly disappointed that I can’t show everyone the glaciers, landscape, and pictures from the upcoming few days. Though, I’m pretty sure that my photos were saved in the cloud, so most likey I’ll post them when I get back to my computer at my parents’.

Alison said I can use her brother’s phone (different operating system) when we meet up with him and his girlfriend on Friday. I may take that offer, but I need to think about whether it’s easier or more efficient to buy new adapters or to just replace my phone since I know I’ll be doing that anyway when I come back home (not a fangirl of any OS, just like it when my electronics sync among other reasons).

It is windy as fudge right now, and the van is rocking a bit. I’m a huge fan of camper van life, but maybe not in Iceland during winter. Good night.

Oh, the irony.

Iceland, Trip Itinerary

After an eight-hour flight, Alison and I arrived at Keflavik airport and were picked up by the Happy Camper guy. Our vehicle is a 2016 Nissan dci. It’s easy to drive! It notifies you when you should be up or down shifting and has an automatic windshield wiping mechanism that I can’t figure out how it works (it goes faster when there’s more rain–how does it know?!). The tires have metal spikes sticking out of them as well. Ooooh! And the seat scoots up far enough so I can comfortably press down the clutch all the way. Thanks, Jake, for re-teaching me how to stick shift drive and for letting me wear down the clutch 🙂 I haven’t had much trouble other than adjusting to the lack of stop signs! They have roundabouts and yield signs instead. There are one-way bridges here and there, but you just have to coordinate with someone else going in the other direction by flashing your high beams. There aren’t too many cars on the road, though. There will be even fewer once we get Northeast.

Thursday morning, we woke up at 5 to backtrack from Vik a little and check out some waterfalls and Black Sand Beach. After a bit of driving again, we reached Glacier Bay, then backtracked to where we need to be tomorrow morning for our Glacier hike.

Note: we have wifi in our campervan, but only when the van is on. Posts may be written a bit earlier than the post day/time. Feel free to email/message me, and I’ll eventually get back to you. Keep in mind that we are currently 7 hours ahead of Pacific time. I’m the only one driving, though, so don’t expect too much in-depth responses. Deal with it!

Our Happy Camper van!

Seljalandsfoss Waterfall

You can walk behind it!

Skógafoss Waterfall

From the mini hike to the top

Black Sand Beach’s basalt columns

Glacier Bay

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After seven months of wellness calling with Damon Wellness Consulting every Monday night, Jessica had me create an intention for this trip. I eventually came up with “to let minimal living affect how I live when I return back, allowing me to focus on the important things in life, which are relationships and positive state of mind.”
It was really interesting to see how much I accumulated just over two years in our last Oakland house. I tried picking up too many hobbies (sewing, basket weaving…) and never fully committed to any of them. It’s great to want to keep on learning, but sometimes, you have to step back and see if you’ve chewed off more than you can bite.

The latter of the intention is clear, yet I always find myself struggling with it. I have grown away from the “everyone/everything is amazing!” crap that I believed when I came back from living in Paris for a year. I’ve definitely experienced bullshit here and there and realized how selfish and greedy people can be, so I ended up shying away from my old friends and being comfortable with being around very few people, resulting in becoming exhausted by the little bit of socializing I did.

Long story short, I plan to focus on strengthening the relationships I currently have with my friends and family that I know appreciate and love me the same I do for them. A part of my post-Paris mindset of “everything I say or do will be out of good intention for you” will come back, but I will not forget that I also would like to rebuild my relationship with myself. That means letting go of things that will make me a negative person and enforcing the things that make me want to be better. This may all sound woo-woo and cheesy to some, but this shit is really important. I refuse to harbor pessimism and negativity in my life because that makes nobody happy!

I hope I read this post in a few months (did I mention that our trip will maybe possibly be 4-6 +/- ?) and smile at how far I have come. BUT OBVIOUSLY not smile in a picture for y’all. So boring ;p