zofka
anna sofie andersen Joined: July 4th 2005
Logged in: February 14th 2012
Logged in: February 14th 2012
I started travelling in 2004/2005 when I moved to Ljubljana, Slovenia at the age of 20. I had never before heard of Slovenia and the decision was made by a teenage girl with a teenage-broken heart. But my year living in Slovenia had my teenage-heart grown stronger and made me a spirited youth ready to take on the world. Without Slovenia I would not have been who I am today.
It was in this period that I started travelblogging and found it an amazing opportunity to not only keep those at home updated, but also to have a reminder in the years to come. I travelled the Balkans for a over a month after my stay in Ljubljana. I visited places which to this day still remain strong in my memory, places that came to represent what I would later recall as "my Balkan".
see first blog on the trip: Enjoying my last days
My next big travel was in 2006, where I spent time travelling La Peninsula, discovering places such as Granada, "Chauen", Fez, Lisboa, Salamance, Valencia and off course Madrid, the centre of it all. I lived the following half a year as an Erasmus student in Madrid, in Argüelles. It was my time "living la vida loca", enjoying the freedom to do as I pleased. It was a time of love, of friendship, of life, it was Spain.
see first blog on the trip: Madrid - the journey begins
After having watched a travel documentary about the Caucasus countries, I embarked on a journey there in the summer of 2008. My love for Eastern Europe and the old Communist bloc was reinforced as I made my way through the plains of Azerbaijan, the mountains of Georgia and the churches of Armenia. Rarely have I seen anything so diverse and beautiful as the three Caucasus countries. But the journey was also a journey to understand and better myself, and to come to terms with my own cultural intolerance and (mis)understanding. In particularly through my visit to Azerbaijan did I learn how limited my world-view had been and how narrow-minded I was as a Westerner. However, it should take me years before I could truly say that I had fully improved and become better at meeting those different to myself.
see first blog on the trip: First taste of the Baltic - Riga
Half a year later, I went to Lithuania for an internship, mingling in the diplomatic circles of Vilnius society. For the first time, I got the chance to become probably acquainted with the labour market and have a sense of how it felt to have a nine to five office job. But the job was not what kept me awake, Lithuania was. It seemed so close to home and yet so far away. As if it was worlds apart from my Copenhagen life. While being used to wasting all the free time I had had as a student, knowing I had only the weekends for myself made me extra careful to explore new places when ever I could.
see first blog on the trip: There is something about Vilnius
Right now I am enjoying North America, with a month in Edmonton, AB folowed by a month on the road - West to East, Vancouver to Toronto.
see first blog on the trip: Basecamp Edmonton
Travel Blog Posts
Oasis of flowers
I love Brussels. Every time I go there I feel overwhelmed by the cities capability to encapsulate so many different cultures and ways of life. To most people travelling to Brussels, the city is one of two things. Either, it is the daily life of the machinery that is Europe. Here are the central institutions of European integration; the European Union, NATO and representations of anyone who wants to deal with Europe be it East or West, North or South. This is where Kissinger and later Obama should call when they claim that it confuses them to call Europe. It is +32 2! Or, it is a small provincial French town placed in a partly French country. It is a cozy little city where the café life resembles Paris while Christmas is celebrated by countless of ... read more
Canadian Times Square
The city of Toronto seems a city of many small areas. I failed in my period here to find what can be categorised as an actual downtown. Instead, I spent my time discovering several individual villages within the central Toronto area, as well as beyond. Amongst these were yet another Chinatown. I seem to have become quite used to the idea of Chinatowns by now, and I must admit that it no longer excited me. I quickly continued onwards to hippie commercial Kensington Market which though pleasant didn't catch my fascination for long. It seems filled with the same India inspired hippie stores as you find anywhere in the Western World. However, it should only be fair to mention that these were mixed with a few second hand and vintage stores and some trendy and not ... read more
Downtown
I have spent a few days walking the streets of Detroit. There is something about this city. These pictures are from downtown and the Eastern market. My blog from Detroit can be read here: But because I just couldn't stop taking pictures, I also made a diary entry for my stroll up Michigan Avenue: and one through Corktown: ... read more
Michigan Avenue
So these are the pictures I took down Michigan Avenue. This street is so colourful and with so many little details and paintings that it took me ages to reach downtown from Rosa Parks St. You can read about my days in Detroit on , and check out my way too many pictures from Corktown on . When I finally reached downtown, it looked like this: ... read more
Corktown
It has been impossible for me to limit my photos from Detroit, so here comes a few photo blogs. This one is from my walk in Corktown on my first day in Detroit. I really loved this neightbourhood. To read about my Detroit trip, go to . To check out my pictures from Michigan Avenue, go to . For pictures from downtown, check out Enjoy, Anna... read more
The tree
Here I am, finally! In Detroit... For more than a year I have had a dream of exploring this city. Throughout my Amtrak travels, for every community meal I have had in the dinner wagon, I have had to explain to yet another white middle class, middle aged couple, why Detroit. Why this dangerous and empty city? My interest derives from some of the same issues as my love for Eastern Europe. I am deeply fascinated by industrial cities in decay. Cities that no longer can survive on their main production industries. This interest is manifold. Firstly, it is visual. There is a particular rawness to half empty houses and ruined buildings. Secondly, it is sociologically fascinating to meet the people that stay, and discover their extend of hospitality. Thirdly, a place such as Detroit or ... read more
Wrigley and Tribune
After my initial meeting with Chicago, I have spent two days walking around. My swollen feet are proof of my sightseeing. On my first day, I spent nine hours looking around Chinatown, The Loop and the Magnificent Mile as well as had another adrenaline kick from getting up into the Hancock Tower. The second day I spent on a boat ride, whereafter I visited Old Town and the historical museum. I think I have become somewhat used to downtowns and financial districts full of skyscrapers by now, yet what makes Chicago stand out from the earlier cities, is the amount of old and incredibly beautiful skyscrapers. I dare say that I hardly need mention the unbelievable Wrigley Building (yes it is named after the chewing gum) or the neo-gothic Tribune Tower. In fact, Chicago was home ... read more
Tracks to Chicago
I arrived in Chicago from Minneapolis with battle fatigue. I was tired and exhausted and really didn't feel like seeing another North American city. After half an hour at Union Station trying to find my way out, I thought that I had arrived at the most unfriendly and busy place in the world. I was close to tears and could hardly formulate my question when I finally found someone who was willing to tell me where to go to reach the orange line. But whatever I felt then has changed. As soon as I got off the station area, and crossed the bridge to the Loop and Quincy station, I knew that I had to discover this place; that it was not just another North American city and that I was going to love it. At ... read more
Me at Saint Anthony Falls
I don't know why but for some reason I feel less safe in Minneapolis than I have in any other place on my travel. Perhaps it is because my first experience in the city was seeing a woman being arrested at the bus terminal of Mall of America, or perhaps that she was very loud and angry. Or maybe it is all the attention that I get from men on the bus. I seem to be a magnet in Minneapolis for weird guys who either really want to know where I am from and what I am doing, or who just like to stare. One guy who looked a whole lot like Steve Buscemi, spent half an hour on a bus asking me random questions, seemingly unaware of my resistant and single syllabus answers. The bus ... read more
Many Glacier in rain
The crowd is roaring as the two teams are presented; Blowfish and the Shookers. The teams get into position. Straw in hand. Head bent. Fish cup on the go. One, two, three, go. And the goldfish race has begun. It is East Glacier Park Montana. It is Blackfoot country. And I am at the only saloon in town. The Trailhead Saloon. The place is jam-packed as one of the most exciting events is taking place. The goldfish race has gathered more than 20 teams which all compete to blow their goldfish over the finish line first in a long run of elimination matches. If the goldfish doesn't win, you eat it. - That night a lot of goldfish ended their days in the stomachs of hungry contestants. East Glacier Park is a small four block wide ... read more
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