• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

College Magazine

College Life, Dating, Career & Campus Advice

  • Colleges
    • College Guides
    • College Rankings
    • Campus Life
      • Academics
      • Dating
      • Freshman Year
      • Health
      • Social Change
      • Party
  • Majors
    • All Majors
    • Most Popular Majors
    • Choosing a Major
  • Intern
    • Internship Directory
    • How to Get an Internship
    • How to Write a Resume
    • How to Write a Cover Letter
    • How to Interview
    • How to Network
    • Career 101
    • Find Your Passion Career
  • Money
    • How to Make Money
    • How to Save Money
    • How to Get a Job
    • Credit Cards 101
    • FAFSA
    • Ramen Project
  • Travel
    • Study Abroad
    • College Spring Break
    • How to Travel Cheap
    • Things to Do
  • Shop
    • Writer Course
    • College Magazine Shop
    • Gift Guides
    • College Packing List
  • Find your college or university
  • Colleges
    • College Guides
    • College Rankings
    • Campus Life
      • Academics
      • Dating
      • Freshman Year
      • Health
      • Social Change
      • Party
  • Majors
    • All Majors
    • Most Popular Majors
    • Choosing a Major
  • Intern
    • Internship Directory
    • How to Get an Internship
    • How to Write a Resume
    • How to Write a Cover Letter
    • How to Interview
    • How to Network
    • Career 101
    • Find Your Passion Career
  • Money
    • How to Make Money
    • How to Save Money
    • How to Get a Job
    • Credit Cards 101
    • FAFSA
    • Ramen Project
  • Travel
    • Study Abroad
    • College Spring Break
    • How to Travel Cheap
    • Things to Do
  • Shop
    • Writer Course
    • College Magazine Shop
    • Gift Guides
    • College Packing List
  • Find your college or university
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Write
  • Apply
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sign Up
  • Advertise
  • My Account
  • Cart

You are here: Home / Life / Copenhagen 2012: Castle Hopping

Copenhagen 2012: Castle Hopping

February 9, 2012 //  by Claire Wiseman

FacebookTweet

Recently, I made a Facebook photo album with the title “Castles and Snoozin’, Snoozin’ and Castles.” Marcel the Shell references aside, this title pretty accurately sums up a lot of my European travels to date.

 
Because when you go to Europe, you’re probably going to want to go see some super sweet really awesome SICK castles, right man? Well, I did.  So this weekend I traveled to Kronborg, known as “Hamlet’s Castle,” on the coast of Denmark. It’s only my third castle of the trip, and I’ve been here two weeks.
 

I have some other qualifications for this assessment. During a trip to London this summer, I also visited Leeds Castle, Warwick Castle, Canterbury Cathedral, Stratford-Upon-Avon, the Abbey at Bath, and some other tall things on day trips.
 
Additionally, I am an avid viewer of the show “Frat Castles.” Although historically inaccurate, I’m going to lump all of these things in together in order to make a point. The point is that when you “go to see a castle” during study abroad, it tends to boil down the same basic pattern.

Here’s the pattern:

  1. Board a bus. A bus crammed with hungover, 20-something students who are studying in Europe. At 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning.
  2. Ride through the gorgeous countryside, admiring the palatial homes you pass and playing the “I really live there” game while most of the bus complains about their headache.
  3. Arrive in the town outside your destination so you can “have free time” to “eat some lunch on your own.” This usually means “find the most Danish/British/Scottish/looking place you can before the other hundred kids on the bus get there too.” Order something you can’t pronounce. Take pictures of all your food.
  4. Walk through the town trying to find something “authentic.” Take vertical pictures of all the shop fronts because you can’t pronounce their names. Don’t buy a souvenir because it’s too expensive. Realize you were supposed to be back on the bus 10 minutes ago. Why does this always happen to you?
  5. Approach castle. Huzzah! Lots of pictures. Pictures of the castle. Pictures of you with the castle. Pictures of the tiny model of the castle with the actual castle in the background, because you’re artistic.
  6. Tour castle. It is drafty, but the furniture is nice. Tour guide mostly talks about wars. You realize there is no public restroom.
  7. Realize you could never see all there is to see and appreciate all there is to appreciate in that amazing place because you were there for 40 minutes and now it’s time to go home.
See, I like these tours. I also really love history. I can spend six hours in a museum. I am not a typical person. I think, sometimes, that people outside of Europe are obsessed with castles (and cathedrals, and queens, and things from before 1776, generally) because we don’t have them.  So we try to cram as many of these things as possible into a short time abroad. 
 
And these tours are a great opportunity. I know that mine this weekend, for instance, was fabulously planned. But there’s something lost in jumping from castle to castle.
 
My advice for my friends abroad? Get off the castle conveyor belt. Instead of seeing as much as possible, stop to see as much as possible in each place. These wonders are meant to be appreciated with both a clear head and a handle on why they matter.
 

Photo: at http://www.ripleys.com/copenhagen/en/in-the-area/rosenborg-castle/

FacebookTweet

Filed Under: Life Study Abroad

About Claire Wiseman

Claire Wiseman

You May Also Like

songs to belt out

21 Songs to Belt Out in the Shower

Top 10 Weird Scholarships You Can’t Miss

cultural identity and language

Language Abilities Don’t Define Your Cultural Identity, Unless?

How I Turned My Personal Journals into a Published Book

15 Alcohol-Free Activities for a Friday Night In

Reflecting on Fall 2020: How to Recover from One of the Hardest Semesters

How to Make Money From Home Without Taking Off Your PJs

15 COVID-19 Safe Ways to Celebrate the Holidays in 2020

Top 10 COVID-19 Safe Activities to Do Near Fresno, California

Breaking the Binary: My Journey into Identifying as Non-Binary

The Döner Project: My Berlin Budget as a College Student

CM’s Guide to the Print and Digital Journalism Major

Away from Home and Feeling Gross: Being Sick My Freshman Year

A Tale of Two Twin Flames

movies to binge over winter break

Battling Boredom: 10 Movies to Binge Over Winter Break

Being an Asian-American: Learning to Accept Both Halves of Myself

How to Become a Published Poet

ADHD or the Enemy? At Least My College Helped Me

berkeley outdoors

10 COVID-19 Friendly Things to Do in Berkeley, California

Top 10 DIY Gifts for Your BFF

Christmas

10 Gifts For Parents That They Want But Haven’t Asked For

friend group dressed up as Big Hero Six characters

Animation Nerds Unite: 10 Gifts for Animation Lovers

gifts for your girl squad

10 Gifts Your Girl Squad Can’t Live Without

10 Virtual Gifts for Your BFF that Will Make Them Love You Forever

Previous Post: « 5 Sexy V-Day Gifts to Turn Him On
Next Post: 5 Affordable Dates to Get You Laid »

Primary Sidebar



Trending Posts

102

10 St. John’s University Finals Activities to Help You De-Stress

mental health
95

Pandemic and Academic Blues: Being Aware of Your Mental Health

44

Top 10 Colleges With the Most Fashionable Students

23

A Gator’s Bucket-List: 21 Things to Do Before Graduating From UF

Broadway
21

10 Musical Soundtracks to Make Study Sessions That Much Easier

Featured Chapter: St. John’s University

Footer

logo

College Magazine is the national daily guide to campus life. Our articles for college students feature university rankings of U.S. colleges, college guides, academic advice, college prep, career advice, student health and collegiate dating tips.

Written by students for students, by a team of journalists from universities nationwide, we’re on the pulse of the college experience.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Colleges

  • College Guides
  • College Rankings
  • Campus life
  • Academics
  • Dating
  • Freshmen Year
  • Health
  • Party

Majors

  • All College Majors
  • Most Popular Majors
  • Choosing a Major

Intern

  • Internships Directory
  • How to Write a Resume
  • How to Write a Cover Letter
  • How to Interview
  • How to Get an Internship
  • How to Network

Money

  • How to Make Money
  • How to Save Money
  • How to Get a Job
  • Credit Cards 101
  • College Loans

Travel

  • Study Abroad
  • College Spring Break
  • How to Travel Cheap
  • Things to Do

Shop

  • College Packing List
  • Gift Guides
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Write
  • Apply
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sign Up
  • Advertise
  • My Account
  • Cart

Copyright © 2021 College Magazine · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc.