Student Bloggers

One of my favorite places in the world is the airport. That sounds strange considering all I have seen and done in the last two months, but it’s true. There’s just something about the airport that makes my heart feel full. So many planes taking people all over the world. Some going on grand adventures abroad, like me- others going home to be with the ones they love. I especially love the arrivals gate. You have these families waiting in anticipation for that moment when their brother or mom or husband walks through the final gates and they’re reunited. But there’s also those have just arrived in a new place for the first time, bursting with excitement at the promise a new city brings. Airports are bursting with possibility.

After two weekends in Ireland, I was feeling airport withdrawals so it was time for another international trip. Bridget, Kevin, Audrey, and I packed our bags and headed off for a weekend in Copenhagen. We decided we needed to experience some of what the happiest country in the world has to offer. What we found was an American diner, a parade of castles, and gorgeous gardens. It was an easy city to walk around and with the help of our handy-dandy map; we were able to make our way across Copenhagen on foot. We saw the iconic houses, royal palaces, and crashed a wedding at city hall. We visited Christinia, the self-proclaimed autonomous city and it was definitely one of the more unique places I’ve seen. It is really impressive that this small community of people can come together on shared principles and figure out how to be a self-sufficient unit within another city. Sunday was Audrey’s birthday and we celebrated as any twenty-one year old should: by eating dessert for breakfast and making a giant pile of leaves to jump in in the midst of the royal garden.

My favorite part about Copenhagen was watching the city transition between holidays. We arrived on the eve of Halloween and left on November 1^st. During that time, we watched Copenhagen change from a world of orange and pumpkins to a city straight out of a Christmas movie. The Build-a-Bear even changed all of the window display costumes overnight. I was glad to have Kevin along because he may be the only person I know that can rival my level of Christmas cheer and we were both drawn to every window display and shop. The most exhilarating part of our journey didn’t occur until the very end. Our flight was delayed an hour giving us a mere 19 minutes to make it from the plane, through security, across the airport, and to our bus. We did it in 12. If you ever need some excitement in life, give yourself a short layover.

Now, I’m back in Galway where the Kansas City Royals have just been pronounced as the 2015 World Series champions and it’s business as usual. My hometown has shut down in anticipation of the parade tomorrow, but clearly the news hasn’t reached all of Ireland yet. (Although, one of my lecturers did just coincidently cancel class…maybe he’s a baseball fan too). It’s back to business as usual. Well, at least until Thursday when I am back to a world of promise in the Dublin airport.