These two months were full of travel. In July, we took off for our annual family trip to Rangeley, Maine.
Rangeley, Maine
While in Maine, we did a lot of fun activites such as canoing, hiking, playing golf, going in the lake, having fires, playing games and eating ice cream.
A couple notable activites for me:
My cousin, my dad and I hiked up Saddleback Mountain. I've always thought it was a really hard hike but we decided to give it a shot. We hiked up the ski trail and it wasn't actually too challenging and the view was just extraordinary. We also hiked Bald Mountain and Aziscohos during our trip.
2. I pogoed in the Rangelely Logging Parade for my 11th time!
3. The local rental agency hired me back as a drone photographer so I took photos for 17 properties!
After Rangeley, we headed back to Massachusetts and I went to Providence with a friend to help him film a documentary. I also worked on figuring out my plans for the beginning of my Flex Year (stay tuned!)
Then it was time to head out on my next adventure!
Aarhus, Denmark
In my junior year of high school, I participated in a Danish exchange program where the idea was that students from Denmark come to Concord for a week in the fall and then the Concord students spend a week in Denmark in the spring. The Danish student I was assigned was Toby. We became great friends and continued to keep in touch after the program ended. I visited him in North Carolina in 2022 when he was studying abroad there and he came to visit Concord for Thanksgiving that same year.
My family had planned a trip to Finland and Estonia so I realized I could go to Denmark first to see Toby again since I'd already be in that rough geological area. So, I did just that!
On August 2nd, I flew off to Copenhagen through a connecting flight in Iceland. Toby and his fiancée Laura met me at the airport and drove me to Aarhus, a city on the island of Jutland where Laura's parents live.
That first night, though I was feeling the exhaustion of jetlag, I had a good time meeting Laura's family, touring around their house, taking in the beatiful nature surrounding it and enjoying a delicious dinner Laura's mom made.
The next morning, we biked into the city (I got to try an electric assist bike for the first time) to explore an outdoor museum about Denmark's history where they have buildings you can go inside from different time periods and see what life was like. The people showing us what work was like back then at the musuem were actually living as though they lived in that time period as part of an immersive cultural experience.
Fun Fact: I tried Danish licorice (notoriously disliked by non-danish peoople) and I unfortunately I didn't like it either. A man at the store selling it also gave me a stick that had a special taste to gnaw on. I wasn't sure how to do that so I bit off a piece to chew and everyone got worried I was going to swallow it which apparently would not have been good for my health. I didn't though. I spit it out instead.
In the afternoon, we walked around the city and visited the recently retired Queen's house. Then we headed home and watched the Olympics and played some games before bed.
On my second full day there, we headed north to the very top tip of Denmark where the North Sea and the Baltic Sea meet. You could actually see the waves from each sea splash against each other.
We then checked out an old church and went to a big sand dune. I never expected to feel like I was in the desert in Denmark! So cooool!
We stopped for lunch in the town of Hirtshals. We all ordered fish dishes and I had really yummy Elderflower juice. I am a big Elderflower juice fan and I ended up bringing home two bottles of it to share with friends and family back home. We drove back to Aarhus with a stop on the way to charge the car.
Tuesday was my last full day in Aarhus. We drove off again, this time south to Lego House. It's an exciting place near Lego headquarters full of big lego sculptures and interactive activities involving legos. We got to watch legos be produced in a big machine and then we got to keep a brand new bag of six red bricks made by the machine. Everyone got instructions on how to make an unique structure from them that is different from everyone else's. There are a lot of combinations of six blocks when you start to think about it.
We had a great time exploring and doing the lego activities and then we grabbed lunch and drove to visit some rocks that had the first writing ever saying that Denmark was its own country.
In the afternoon, we played a lego game called Creationary (we were in the lego mindset). After a relaxing time watching the Olympics, and a lovely dinner outside, we drove to the church Toby and Laura will be getting married at. It looks amazing. I'm so excited for them!
The following morning, Laura, Toby, Laura's brother and I drove to play Paddle Tennis. It's a game similar to tennis but you play inside and the ball can bounce off a glass wall. Also, the paddle looks very different from a tennis racket.
Soon after, Toby and I said our goodbyes and Toby drove me back to Copenhagen. We stopped at his dad's house on the way and had dinner with him and the family. Then we arrived at Toby's apartment, got icecream, went for a little stroll, watched some TV and I went to sleep. It was an early morning the next day.
Toby generously drove me to the airport at the crack of dawn and I flew to Helsinki, Finland and from there, I ran to my connecting flight to Tallinn, Estonia. The woman checking people in was impressed how quickly I switched gates. When I got on the plane, I was trying to sit in my assigned seat and the woman sitting next to me pointed out that I could sit anywhere because the plane was almost completely empty. So instead of sitting next to her for no reason, I took a different seat.
Thirty minutes later, I landed in Estonia and an hour after that, my parents, Elina, and Kaba arrived too!
We did a lot on our trip in Estonia and Finland but the blog would be much too lengthy if I went into too much detail so here are some highlights!
Tallinn, Estonia
Explored Tallinn and took in the gorgeous views of the Old City
Visited an outdoor museum about life in Estonia long ago
Attended a food truck festival
Went to a chocolate shop and ate while watching the olympics in town with the locals
Dinner at Estonian restaurants
Tartu, Estonia (Day Trip)
Upside Down House!!
Looked at the interesting famous sculptures
Visited the Tartu Botanical Gardens
Walked to a cathedral where a wedding happened to be going on
Walked around the Tartu 2024 festival
Helsinki, Finland
Took a ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki
Went to reindeer park to see reindeer, searched for amethyst rocks, and toasted dough over a fire
Visited Nokia Headquarters
Walked around the Suomenlinna Fortress
Saw the Helsinki Cathedral and the Presidental Palace
Porvoo, Finland (Day Trip)
Stressful time catching bus but we all eventually made it
Yummy lunch out
Went shopping at the cute stores in town
Walk to the waterside
More chocolate shops!
We said goodbye to Elina and Kaba after that day trip and they headed off to Italy to begin their honeymoon and my parents I continued to explore Finland.
Turku, Finland
Train from Helsinki to Turku
Bought snacks at big outdoor market
Took the bus to Ruissalo Island and walked around the botanical gardens
Explored Turku Castle
Rovaniemi, Finland
Took the overnight train up to Rovamiemi, Finland
Visited Arctic Museum and tried to find Arctic Garden (walked across Arctic Circle border)
Evening walk where out of nowhere, sheep ran down the path towards us
A walk in the northern woods where we ran into a reindeer!
Visited the Ranua Wildlife Park
Lappeenranta, Finland (Day Trip)
We were 20 miles from the Russian border!
Sand sculpture exhibit
Lunch on a boat restaurant for my mom's birthday
Walked around to the fortress and a museum with a photography exhibit
Delicious gelato!
We flew home the next morning and after a layover in Amsterdam, we returned to Boston. It was such a special trip and I will remember it forever.
Well, that's enough for this post! This marks the one year anniversary of these montly-ish posts. I've decided to shift the frequency to seasonal posts which will be more focused on big highlights in my life. See you then!
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