Bornholm - Day 1!

haven't been here for a while, but that's because i went to Bornholm!

soo let's start with Friday morning - woke up at 4:30 am, packed my lunch and headed to the metro and rode the s-tog to central station!

then we took the bus to the ferry port
which is apparently in Sweden cause we crossed the Øresund bridge - the ferry port is in Ystad
and then off to Rønne (biggest town on Bornholm)

and the ferry was seriously nice! i haven't seen such a nice ferry for just a 90 min ride

we went outside and as the ferry picked up speed it got windier and winder and even though it hadn't reached it's top speed yet, we were already having trouble walking back inside haha
it also has slot machines and some store on it that was kinda like a duty free shop i guess since they kept advertising the stuff on the ferry - like perfume, jewelry and stuff like that

when we arrived we went on a bus tour, which was pretty interesting - saw lots of random stuff and learned lots of random stuff about Bornholm

for example, i think the guide said there were 45 windmills on Bornholm

and it has the only stones in Denmark? i think - anyways, it's the only place with stones to use to build stuff

our first stop was...some place with a beach lol - i really don't remember the name

the sand was so pretty and white and the water was so clear!

then i ate some soft ice cream covered in cocoa powder - it was soo good =D

next, we visited the town of Svaneke where there is a glass blowing "factory" and an ice cream "factory"

i use the quotations cause they aren't the factories that we think of - more like a shop that has people glass blowing
poor dudes - it was sooo hot in that shop...and it was really hot outside too (ok, it was only in the upper 70s, but there were NO clouds)

and here's the mini ice cream shop that makes their own ice cream (aka the "factory") - i tried some blueberry and raspberry ice cream - i thought they were just ok though =\

they at least have a window where you can look into their kitchen - so i guess that's the factory part

then Claire and I went back to this other shop across from the glass blowing factory and made our own sandblasted glass cup! you buy a glass plate/cup/etc. and then you stick stickers on it in whatever design you want and then you take it to a sandblasting machine and you can sandblast it yourself

so what i ended up with is a cup with a square/geometric design
wish i had more time though - i had to stick all the stickers on in like 20-25 minutes cause we had to catch the bus - we ended up being like 5 minutes late...haha

then off to the bus which, everyone soon realized, was a baking oven since there's NO AC - so we're all sitting there sweaty and gross suffocating in that bus - and the windows don't open either
isn't that nice?

yea basically, nobody ever wanted to go back on the bus

but anyways, onwards to more interesting things i saw on the bus

this triangular structure was designed by the same dude who designed the Sydney Opera House
i forgot what it was for =| well that, and the fact that sometimes i had no idea what our tour guide was saying

next stop: a round church! don't know which one it is, but according to the tour guide, Bornholm has four of the seven round churches in Denmark

i didn't go inside since it costs money and i wanted to eat my lunch - chicken sandwich with tomatoes, veggies from my salad mix and pesto sauce - it was pretty good, i'm actually surprised at the stuff i make here with my limited amount of groceries haha
and behind the church was a souvenir shop that had a pretty gazebo

then it was off to our hostel - Feriecenter Såndkas

we had 3 hours of free time so we went to the beach!

we dipped our feet in the water (which was super cold - well to me it was super cold) and lay/slept on the rocks (yes, i put on sunscreen)
next: dinner time! it said on our schedule that we were having goulash with beef, but we ended up eating chicken with (Danish) curry

it was interesting cause it doesn't taste like the Jap/Indian curry that we're all used to
i didn't even know it was curry until one of the social coordinators, Martin (you'll hear about him later) told me that he thinks they switched the two

dessert: rhubarb (pudding?) with whipped cream! with some tea ♥i thought it was really good (please ignore the peas...i had to use the same plate haha)

and as if we weren't tired enough from waking up at 5 in the morning, we had an activity planned that night - but it turned out to be very interesting and fun =)

we visited Hammershus fortress! which is the largest fortress in northern Europe

we had a tour guide who told us many many many stories about the castle - i can't remember them all, but i'll put all the stuff i remember about it on fb
it has a gorgeous view =)

one hilarious moment was when we were outside and bees were flying all around us - everyone was like running around, ducking, and waving their arms around (imagine college dudes running around running away from bees - it was pretty hilarious - we all started laughing and our guide gave up telling us a story cause we were laughing so much hahaha)

oh yea, there's also lots of sheep there, so during this one part, our tour guide was talking and a sheep would "baaa" everyone once in a awhile haha so cute!

we stayed there for about 2 hours and saw the sun set and got back to the hostel around 10:30 pm? and i was part of the first group so the second group came back even later @-@

all my roommates were in the second group (they randomly choose your roommates - mine were Mary, Ann, and Karianne - who also happens to be my suitemate) and when they all got back, everyone immediately got ready for bed and slept

so there is the end of my first day in Bornholm - i didn't really get a good nights sleep cause it was super hot =(

but overall, a nice first day in Bornholm - the next day is definitely more disastrous =|

and i'm going to stop here and leave you hanging cause i'm tired and i need to go sleep! :P