my time in america pt 2,5

more pictures of food from my u.s. trip has been requested. enjoy!

dave made me dinner the first night. too bad most of the garlic wanted to stay in the pan :(

lunch at a vietnamese / chinese restaurant in downtown salt lake city. those things in the middle of the table there, they were sooo good! they had cream cheese in them and they were fried. mmmmmm.

arby's mozzarella cheese sticks in all their delicious glory

kate's butter nut squash soup. yum!

lunch at the mediterranean market & deli. i have eaten better paninis in my life but it was ok. the store did have arborio rice so they're forgiven

donuts!! (i was in america after all..)

this is NOT how mexican food looks and tastes in northern europe, but although this specific portion (in cedar city) wasn't my favorite, the one i ate in slc a few days later was really good! though i'm sorry to say, dave, i don't appreciate it like you do.

the salmon burger in las vegas

my time in america pt 1

as a good story always begins, with the journey there.

when i arrived at copenhagen airport at 7am that tuesday i had already been up for about two hours. after queuing for a bit i was informed at check-in that my flight was 2 hours late and because of that i had to be re-booked on my connections. said and done. instead of continuing from newark (new jersey, for those of you unfamiliar with u.s. geography) to cincinnati (ohio) i was to go to houston (texas), and then to salt lake city (utah). no problem.

the flight to newark was not full so i had some much appreciated space, even though it was coach. and because dave the considerate had pre-ordered my meals to be vegetarian, the food was great; fresh fruit, actual tastes and no chips.

we came in over the u.s. through northwest canada; newfoundland and there, and continued down towards new jersey through a beautiful autumn colored new england. it was amazingly beautiful! i couldn't stop looking out the window for the entire time from coming in over land to landing in newark. luckily i didn't already had pain in my neck from sleeping on the plane, thanks in large part to the neck pillow i brought, so i could thoroughly enjoy the view.

after getting through customs at newark - i swear the man flirted with me! - i bummed around the airport a few hours with my two old swedish lady friends i got before i boarded in copenhagen, whom i also helped translate the important pieces. here was my first u.s. starbucks experience. weak.

after boarding my flight to houston, it sat for an hour on the runway before taking off, and i quickly realized i wouldn't make my connection to salt lake. but since there was nothing i could do about it, i enjoyed the flight. the view over night time usa is sometimes spectacular. i was seated next to an american couple with a baby who was only temporarily in the states and normally lived in egypt. her teaching english, him working for some christian foundation-something. they had an interesting perspective on everything; living as white american christian minority in such a historically rich country had given them experiences out of the ordinary, at least for me and i would guess, most americans.

arriving in houston i missed my connection by 15 minutes. i was handed a new boarding pass for the next morning (12 hours later), a meal voucher and the message that because of some hurricane or other there was not a vacant room in the entire city of houston so i would have to make do with what i could find to sleep on at the airport. i had already been on the road (so to speak) for over 20 hours.

about 5 am or so at the airport in houston. this is what a sleep deprived jenny looks like..

a mostly sleepless night later it was wednesday and i finally boarded my flight to salt lake city in the morning and arrived at noon. sweet relief! i was so happy to have arrived. dave and me went to chilis where i had a delicious black bean burger, and then home to his place and my room for the coming fortnight. i said good day to the world and fell asleep.

one hungry jenny and one delicious black bean burger

it took about 40 hours to get from my front door to dave's. my adventure sure started off with an adventure.

walking on american soil

after what seemed like forever, i'm finally in salt lake city! i had a string of bad luck with my flights with delays and re-bookings, so i ended up spending the night in houston at the airport sleeping the best i could in chairs. not too comfortable, but at least now i can say i've been to texas!

all-in-all it took me about 40 hours to get from my door to dave's, of which about 16 was spent in the air.

now we're off to see the mormon temple.

going away

it just a week left now! FREAKING OUT!

i've never traveled this far before! i don't know what to pack, i haven't thought it through yet! i don't know what i need to have on the plane! i haven't bought any spare batteries, or a plug converter, if i even need them, i don't even know if i do yet. i don't even know what i need to know! what do i need to know? HELP!

subing

it would seem my luck has turned. today i got two calls about jobs, temporary as sub, but jobs nonetheless! now yours truly has part time sub jobs for the next four weeks and for about a week after i return from the states. yay!

the trip to slc is coming closer and it still seems quite unreal but oh so exciting. this must be a dream. pinch me!

being a tourist

it seems i COULD be happier! thanks to my dear dear friend dave i'm going to go to the u.s. in october! for the first time! i've been wanting this for so long!

I'M SO EXCITED I'M WRITING IN CAPITALS (and over-using exclamation marks)!

bzz!

i think i had a mosquito in my room tonight. damn itching.

by this time tomorrow i'll be at the airport in copenhagen waiting for my plane to depart and by this time the day after tomorrow i'll probably be sitting at a restaurant, or on the porch, with a glass of wine in my hand, smelling the sweet smell of french summer and the mediterranean sea. how i long for thee.

i'm determined to do as little as possible except lay down, swim, eat, drink, read, take strolls on the beach, take pictures, write postcards, and relax. i may enjoy a little culture, if it comes my way and catches my interest. but no internet - no emails, no blog reading, no information overload. no tv. no must-dos.

this is where i'm going. i know, i don't speak french either. (arrogant, isn't it?) it's on the ocean a bit outside of narbonne, somewhere in-between montpellier and perpignan. wait. need map.


the white line near the bottom is, for those of you who doesn't love maps like i do - obsessively, the spanish border. this whole area of france is called languedoc-roussillon and it's beautiful with castles, mountains and vineyards. and beaches. the wine is tasty, the food is good and the people are, well, french.

so see you in two weeks! oh, and if you want postcards, mail me your address - and fast! need to have them before i leave.

sweet vaccation

Copenhagen To London Stansted
flight 3468; dep. Sat 21 Jun 21:35
arr. Sat 21 Jun 22:25

From London (Stansted) (STN) to Montpellier (MPL)
Sun, 22Jun08 Flight FR 632 Depart STN at 06:05 and arrive MPL at 09:00

insert the mediterranean sea, sun, wine, cheese and all things french (almost)!

From Montpellier (MPL) to London (Stansted) (STN)
Sat, 05Jul08 Flight FR 633 Depart MPL at 09:25 and arrive STN at 10:25

London Stansted To Copenhagen
flight 3467; dep. Sat 05 Jul 18:25
arr. Sat 05 Jul 21:10

welcome to scotland

so, me and lars went to glasgow for a week and in retrospect, maybe late october/early november wasn't the best season to visit scotland, but we did it and we liked it. we made these observations on scots

1. they are friendly
2. half of the time even people with good knowledge in the english language (read us and the foreigners we talked to over there) can't understand a word they're saying
3. they don't seem to mind the constant raining


we lived in a backpackers hostel owned by a crazy canadian who, during our stay, celebrated his 40th birthday, but you couldn't really tell if he's really 40 or if he's 15. the people working there, mostly girls 20-25, backpackers themselves, were friendly and helpful. we stayed in a 14 bed dorm, the cheapest, for a full week. now we know that's too long. the other guests came and went, most quiet and harmless but some annoying. i wouldn't mind staying at hostels in the future but it had its drawbacks.

most of the time we spent walking around town or in the park, going through bookstores and drinking coffee at starbucks. we also hit a few museums. i loved the bookstores cos they were filled with fiction in english (!), a luxury here. mailorder aside there's no real place to go through shelves with fiction written in english here. i bought 4, too few, but it's not like i'm rich.. the two newest couplands, the virgin suicides and one i really liked, the bitch goddess notebook.

starbucks got a lot of our money though. i got hooked last year when i was in edinburgh, and lars joined in after his second cup. there is no starbucks in sweden.. :( the white moccas after a long day of walking around town getting sore feet is like heaven.

bagpipe players in front of the royal concert hall

i found the record store avalanche - also in edinburgh, where i spent £50 last year - in glasgow and found a few cds i really like, some belly singles and hope sandoval and the warm intentions. the best thing about the store is that they have great music, and it's not expensive. the record stores here with the best music tends to be the most expensive ones..

we also went to edinburgh one day, and it was as beautiful as i remembered it. the old buildings, the narrow streets in the old town, the castle. we even had some fish & chips there on the royal mile. we spent some time and money in the avalanche store there but mostly we just walked around. we took the train back to glasgow with sore feet and marks&spencers sandwiches.

the royal mile

the canadian's birthday party was on a friday and we joined in, we didn't plan to but we did. and it was fun. a lot of the guests were there, and the staff and some of his friends, and we talked to a lot of them, especially two american guys studying in london and two canadians who were friends of the owner. the american guys were fun and we talked a lot about politics actually - they were torn between our interesting conversation and the two pretty german girls who they tried impress by joking about the holocaust, no it didn't work, surprise. i was however surprised i wasn't more drunk considering how many beer i had that night, but except for running to the bathroom at least 6 times during the night i was fine.

we took almost 300 photos, mostly buildings (my fault), and i really don't feel like sorting them :) all in all we had a good time, it was worth the money and i got what i sought for; change of scenery and relaxation.

scotland here we come

i'm going to glasgow on my november break! yay! me and lars just booked a trip there october 28 - november 4; a full week! i'm so happy. last year at that time i was in edinburgh for 4 days and it was just lovely, so i just had to go back. and now, with a full week there's lots of time to explore the place. i'll have to show lars around edinburgh and we'll have to see some of the highlands.


oh, i can't wait! scotland is beautiful. people talk funny. the beer is cheap. they have lots and lots of starbucks! [i love their coffee, and sweden is totally without :(] the only thing that's possibly not great is that we're staying in a dorm with 14 beds at a hostel, but hey, it'll sure make for interesting anecdotes. i know, cos it's the same hostel that sister and her friend stayed at when they were there in april, and they came back with interesting anecdotes (like the one with the american girls who repeatedly said "i'm so excited" without any trace of excitement either in voice nor facial expression).

who wants postcards? ;)