Day Ten

Let me start off by saying that I am now sick, I finally got the bug. I guess I am lucky, to only have gotten it today and not a few days ago. But nonetheless I do not feel very well and staring at this screen makes my eyes and head hurt...

So this morning was cold. It snowed a lot, well for here, and smart me didn't wear the right clothes to be outside in. Well, no that's a lie. I wore the right clothes, but not enough of them. I was expecting to see Jessica get on at the stop after me and when she didn't I was a little concerned and checked my watch a ton to make sure I was on time even though I knew I was. When I got to the cafe by station I didn't see anyone in our delegation and I was really really worried. It was packed in there and finally I spotted Jessica. So then we were both concerned about the time because it was eight, the time when everyone meets. Shortly others walked in. We were just paranoid for nothing, as usual.

Our train ended up being delayed almost half an hour so I guess it didn't really matter that people got there a little late. It was freezing waiting on the train platform and I did not enjoy it at all. We took the train all the way to Copenhagen, got confused on when to get off but it all worked out. We met up with the Johnsons and some people went off to this NGO thing which they needed their badges for but Beth P, Jessica, and I didn't have outs so we went to the Klimaforum instead. When we were there, Jessica and I did some mesh working with students in Denmark who are trying to make their schools more sustainable. So we got to tell them a lot about SES and how amazing we are haha. But that was really fun, meeting kids our age and younger who want a place like SES. I felt really lucky to be able to talk about SES and I still feel really lucky to be able to go to such an amazing school.

After a few hours of that we went off to lunch, which was a pizza place that we went to last week. Pictured below. It was really good so there were no complains about going again. When we were done we made our way back to the train stations to meet the Swedish teachers to get a tour of Copenhagen. It was really really really REALLY cold and wet outside, but besides that I really like Copenhagen. It was really hard to appreciate it though, because I was so cold and frozen and concerned for the life of my toes, which I could not feel for hours. The picture below is Copenhagen in the snow. Pretty but soooo cold!

We left a bit early from the tour to catch a train. There was lots more to see but we will try to tomorrow when we get some free time in the city. When we got to the train station it was crazy. Trains were being canceled and delayed left and right and thankfully we found a train that we didn't wait thatttt long for. But still, it was cold. When the hundreds of people waiting for the train piled on there was absolutly noooo room for a lot of people to sit down and even more couldn't even move it was so packed. About thirty people stood in an area that was maybe 7 by 8 feet, including all 12 of our delegation. It was crazy. People still tried to pile on and no one could move at all and we were all touching like ten people at once. It sounds horrible but it was a really cool experience I thought. Getting off the train was impossible for some people though because no one wanted to move and give up their spot. Eventually we realize that we were on the right train, one that would go to our stop, and after a few stops enough people left for us to sit down.

So that was basically my night. After the crowded train ride, everyone getting off in Landskrona made their way to the bus and the bus was just as packed. I was still freezing and when I got home I laid in bed with my feet completely wrapped up for about half an hour. I still didn't feel them that well by the time I got up to go get something to eat. I have never been that cold in MN before, it was crazy. Now I am just tired and sick and I'm going to try to get a good nights sleep.

Day Seven

So today was pretty intense. We met at our usual time to take the train into Copenhagen and it was late as usual and had the same number of people, meaning that we don't get a seat until we get to Lund because then about half of the train gets off. So we got to Copenhagen around 9:30 and made our way from the train station to the metro right above and holy crap, there were way more people than normal, it was hard to move and stay with our whole delegation because there were soooo many people there. Here's a small portion of the line we waited in.

When we got off the metro at the Bella Center the amount of people really hit us. Normally we got off the metro, show our badges to these officers and then get right into the conference center and go through security. We had to get into this line and it was so long that it took us forever to find the end. Overall it took us and hour to get inside. We stood in line for about 45 minutes and then had to get through security. We were lucky though, some people hadn't registered yet and apparently some where in line for eight hours. That sucks for them, glad we came last week. In line we met a women from D.C. who works with natural gas and she had been to 12 COPs, how awesome is that?

Inside it was pretty packed too. Katie and I rushed off right away to go to a meeting about climate change and faith and how they are related or something. It was a little odd and I couldn't really tell what their point was. After that though we went to a side event about ice melting in Greenland and there were prime ministers speaking and Al Gore spoke! It was so cool to see him after hearing all about him and watching his movie and knowing how into climate change he is. Pretty awesomeee.

After that session was over it was practically time to leave and so I went and grabbed a sandwich to eat on the train. That was basically my day. When I got home Kim's sister Natalie was making dinner for me and now I am going to attempt to teach myself some physics, it's about time to do some homework. We'll see how this goes. I'm really tired.

Day Seven

Today was one of my favorite days of the trip so far. First of all it was the first day that I have slept in for a few weeks now and it was amazing. I woke up two hours before I needed and so I laid in bed until I feel back asleep, this happened multiple times but I kept just laying here. Oh it was so nice!

So my morning started around 9:40. Got up, took a shower, and joined Kim's mom for breakfast. We talked for awhile which was really nice because we haven't much. I left the house around 11. I didn't know what time the bus was coming and I don't know how to look it up online so my plan was to leave at 11, check the times at the bus stop, which is literally one minute away, and then if I had awhile, walk around Landskrona because I haven't really done that lately. I was really looking forward to this because it was a beautiful day...well, at least just this morning. But okay so that plan faileddd. I got to the station at 11:06 because I left a little late because I just HADDD to straighten my hair today : and so anyway the next bus came at 11:08. Okay awesomeee. No time to be a creep and take pictures of the town. The next bus wasn't until 11:21 and I was due at the train station at 11:30. So blah, maybe next weekend? I can't believe I have been here for eight days and still haven't seen Landskrona in the day night. On the bus I can't recognize anything because I normally just see it at night. But oh well. I like being busy and being off in Copenhagen. I suppose when the conference is over things will settle down a bit and maybe like the day before I leave I can finally see this city. New plan? I think so.

When we got to Lund, which was where we were going by the way and why I was taking the train, it was snowing. It didn't last long and it didn't stick, but it was really cold. I'm sure it's colder back home...but I try not to think about that haha. We walked around for a bit and came to this Greek restaurant and had really good faffeles. After staying there for what seemed like forever, oh and it was a really small place so if anyone else wanted to eat there they were pretty much forced to leave because we are such a big group there were no seats, so after forever we explored Lund a little and wow, it was not what I expect at all. I was expecting something small and quaint like Landskrona but nope. Lund is a big town and it has dozens of ancient buildings including this 1000 year old cathedral, which we got to take a tour of. All I can say is that I think that that cathedral was the most amazing place I have ever been in. I can't even explain how wonderful and beautiful it was. Every little detail had so much meaning behind it and was so planned and cared for and loved and the energy inside of this place, you could feel it the moment you stepped in the door. I have seriously never felt anything like it before and I feel so blessed to have been able to experience this. I didn't want to leave.

But I did. I had to, I can't stay in a church for the rest of my life. The group went to Espresso House to go to the bathroom and then went next door to the Graffiti Cafe and got drinks and a snack. I got a chai latte and it was completely wonderful! Just delicious. After a bit we left to go watch a choir sing for the holiday of Lucia that is celebrated here in Sweden. There were a ton of people there so it was hard to see, but it was cool to do something traditional. When that was over we were given some time to look around the city, which I said before is amazingggg. We checked out some stores and I got some wonderful presents. For dinner we went back to the Graffiti Cafe and got baked potatoes, which I guess are really popular here and here they put lettuce and mini salads on them. It sounds kind of odd but it was delicious.

After dinner we made our way to the train station and it started to snow again. The train left half and hour late so we sat on it the whole time wondering if it was ever going to leave. So that was fun. When I got home Kim's mom was about to make dinner and I was not at all hungry. Well I gave in. She made pancakes, and if you have ever had pancakes in Europe you know they are not like pancakes in the US. They are soooo much better, in my opinion anyway. They have really good jam here too and so ahh there were just wonderful. After I was extremely full I went upstairs to watch the Holiday with Kim's sister Joy and her boyfriend Pierre, which is actually just ending now. Time to go to bed. Early morning tomorrow and back at the conference.

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend in this wonderful place.

Day Six

Today started off early again. It was the weekend and I wanted to sleep in but Jessica, her home stay Myriam, Deon, Beth P, and I wanted to go shopping. So we all let up at the train station at nine (met Beth on the train) and rode it into Helsinborg where we took a bus for half an hour to the shopping center. I got a lot of good gifts and tried a lot of Sweddish candy and sweets and I had a really good time. After we rode back to Landskrona we wanted to go to a Thai resturant but they had pretty much no vegetarian food and Deon, Beth, and I are all vegetarians. So we just we to Subway instead. They had different bread choices here and the one I got was really good, it had oatmeal on it. Here's a picture of us (with Santa!!!) at the mall.

Chocolate in the candy store. How cute. :]

At three o'clock we went to the movie theater that only have one screen and can only play one movie at a time. We saw Fame and I loveddd it. Jessica convinced me to go and paid for me so thanks Jessica! It was so worth it. After the movie I went home and just hung out. Kim's family had an old friend over and I met her and we talked for awhile. For dinner I tried rosehip soup. It was this soup made of rose buds. Sounds odd, but it was really good. I had it heated up and served with vanilla ice cream. I really liked it. Later I just watched a movie on tv. Nothing too exciting.

I didn't do much today. But I had a lot of fun with what I did do And plus it was just nice to have a chill day after all the running around we have been doing for the conference, not that I don't enjoy it. :]

Day Five

First of all, I am so tired right now and I would like everyone to know that the only reason I am up right now is to write this because I do not wish to any longer procrastinate and if I do not do this now I will forget about today in full detail and it will not be as affected...

So today started with the end of yesterday. I want over to Katie's host family so that I could stay up and Skype with her back to the YEA! MN meeting. It had to be at a certain time and because it's seven hours behind there we had to do it early in the morning to match the meeting time. So I spent the night there and good thing I did because we weren't done until about 1:30. Oh and we had to get up at 6:30. Lameee. And this is why I am so tired. But it was really fun. I got to know Katie a little better and experience another host so that was really cool.

This morning got going pretty quickly after all of that. We didn't go to the conference, we took a train to northern Denmark instead. The train ride wasn't very long and I was looking forward to the normal hour long ride so I could nap but oh well. To get to Denmark the way that we went we had to go on a ferry. Where we crossed was where Denmark and Sweden are closest together. The ferry was really cool, it was like a small mall inside and have all of these food places to eat and a store. I bought this candy called Lackolrol or something like that and it is delicious. I bought the purple kind because I thought it was grape and it was not grape. Not grape at all. I don't know what flavor it was, maybe flavor disgusting. They were just plain licorice I guess and I really didn't like it. But the pink ones are great haha.

After getting off the ferry we walked around where the ferry lets off and we saw the castle where Hamlet lived where the queen of Denmark goes occasionally during the summer apparently. After walking around the town (Helsingor which is pictures above) for a bit we got on another train and went to there the museum was, again not a very long ride.

The museum was amazing. I love it. I was all about sustainability and how we can live better in the future. There were really cool models and it was very modern and I loveeee it like I said before. I will have pictures up later, too tired now. Lots of not to good things happened at the museum but the really cool bathrooms all made up for it. The bathrooms had a button that you pressed and the door flew open. And there was a one way mirror bathroom outside that you could see out while in it but you couldn't see in from outside, outside it was just a mirror. I've never seen anything like that before, especially a bathroom. Here's a picture of David at the exhibit climbing up to a bathtub.

We got back to Landskrona around four and Katie came home with me because her home stay went out for a bit and she had no way to get into her house. We hung out and blogged and worked on things, well mainly we goofed off haha. And procrastinated. That's why I'm doing this now. When Katie left I had dinner with Kim and her family and then we watched Swedish Idol and movies, which is what I am doing now. But now I think I will go to bed, I have to be up early. Goodnight Minnesota.

Day Four

Today started off much like yesterday. I might have been home alone, I am not exactly sure...I woke up a little later because I didn't have to shower. Caught the 7:41 bus again. No heels today. I learned my lesson. The Johnsons didn't pick us up in Landskrona and so there were no adults in our group. Pretty fun.

This morning instead of going to the conference right away we went into downtown Copenhagen. It was just one further stop on the train and so it wasn't hard to get there at all. I absolutely lovedddd going into the city and seeing it. It was so...European. Haha :] It had a lot of American stores and fast food places but not as many so I expected I guess.

While we were there we checked out Hopenhagen central, which was pretty cool. It's basically the campaign in set up in the middle of the city that is rooting for good things, hope, to come out of COP15 and that we can make a new better climate policy and things really will begin to change with CO2 emissions. After we checked that out we went over the the Klimaforum which is the peoples climate conference. It is a lot like COP15 where there are session you can attend and there are booths set up for different organizations . One of the booth was through this organization that went around Copenhagen putting flashing red lights 7 meters up on buildings, light posts, etc. The red lights look like bombs ticking and they are to represent how high sea levels could rise because of climate change. I got a lot of stickers at these event and I glad we were able to check it out.

Before we left to get to the conference we went to this pizza place right near the train station. It was really good but very different. They had these noodles that tasted sweet, like they had sugar on them and the veggie pizza had corn and peas (among other things) on it. Sounds odd, but they were both good I thought.

We got to the conference around two and right when we got there we changed into our orange youth shirts and I participated the youth raindance. There is more about it on the main blog that maybe you have already read, hope so :]. Other than that I didn't do much today. I was in an indigenous peoples protests for their rights and then went to sit in on a plenary session that started almost two hours late...I left before it even started because I had to go skype. Our delegation Skyped back to SES's gold house study hall. That was really fun, to see everyone and tell them what we are up to.

It was a long day and I decided to go to Katie's to Skype with her to YEA MN. More tomorrow.

Day Three

Today started off differently. I woke up to the apartment being dark and I assumed that Kim and her sister were still sleeping and that Kim's mom had left for work. I started getting ready as usual, thinking Kim would get up soon. I finally noticed a note on her door for me that said that she had already left and that I was home alone. I was like okay cool, I can get ready and just go and yeah I know what to do it will be fine. Haha yeah... Well I was a little terrified being alone. Not that anything was going to happen to me, I was just paranoid. But, everything WAS fine. I got ready with no trouble, had some cereal, locked to door and left for the bus stop. Took the 7:41 bus and Jessica came on at the next stop. Ohh I should back up a little. In all of my brightness I decided to wear heels today. Thankful I packed flats in my backpack because I knew today was going to be a over 12 hour day and I didn't want to die in those heels, although I did regret wearing them the second I stepped out of Kim's apartment complex because I was walking on cobble stone streets.



Right when I got to the conference Katie and I went off to a plenary session that was really interesting because one of my portfolio topics for the conference is the Alliance of Small Island States. In the plenary session (pictures here), a lot of AOSIS nations were talking about how they wanted to make a new policy at this COP like Kyoto and the Bail Action Plan, but India and China (large stakeholders) said that they would not sign a new policy because they think it is more important to focus on the past policies that we are started but have no finished yet. We didn't stay long and after we left, Katie and I tried to interview people coming out of the session and asked them them views on what India and China said. I only got one good interview with a party member (a pink tag as we like to call them because party members have pink on their official badges and they said "Party member" where as we have "Non governmental" and have yell tags....therefore we call ourselves yellow taggers..makes sense in the COP world...ANYWAY!) He told us that China and India were right and his views on it all, so that was pretty cool, not what I expected to hear.

At one o'clock a lot of our delegation way our want to a side event held about indigenous people. That was a really cool meeting. It was packed in the session because it's a hot topic. There were about six speakers from all over the world talking about how climate change was affecting their indigenous culture. And for some weird reasons there was a butterfly flying around the meeting room we were in. It was very distracting. The session ended early, which was kinda of lame, but it was soooo hot in there because it was packed like I said and to be honest I was falling asleep.

After daily COP shenanigans of getting lunch and checking out different places to hang out during down time and changing into the flats I brought because my feet were killing me, Katie and I went to a US youth delegation debrief of the day. It was a really cool meeting where we met other youth from the US. They are full of so much energy and are so focused and willing to do things for YOUNGO and it really motivated me and I really enjoyed it. They talked about all these amazing things that we could do like protests and actions and just meeting other youth but everything it either before or after we get to the conference or they are not at the Bella Center and we are not allowed to leave, which is understandable. But I am doing and will continue to do as much as I can during the times I am at the conference.

Today was our first long day at the conference, meaning we stayed until about seven o'clock. It was hard to find a place that I open to eat but we found a good spot and that's basically how my evening ended. I got home late and so I pretty much we right to bed. Not an amazing day but definitely fun and no complaints.