I've been home for over a month now. I can't remember that date that I've been home, but since I got back I've gone to New Orleans, watched my sister graduate, babysat, changed my face, dropped my sister off at Yale, seen my mom off to Korea, and more-- but not in that order. Maybe it's 2 months... It's probably about 1.72 months since I last saw the landmass of Europe.
The contents of this blog cover only the first half of my stay in Denmark. The first two months were rough.. the sun set by 4 pm and it was complete darkness when I got out of class. The weather just added onto other little things and I wasn't the happiest JYA girl. But after the 3 week travel break I felt more like myself. I started this blog so I could write in it often so I would have a record of my experience-- but I got lazy and now I can't remember the stuff that I want to remember...
Alright- I just looked through my pictures and my memory's coming back.. The family and I made our way back to Milano and stayed in a hotel. It was kind of a waste because the place was really nice but we only had time to shower and repack our stuff-- our flights started at 5.30 am the next morning. So our cab driver was really nice and helped us with our stuff- and when there was all this confusion about flights and lines and check-in, he stopped eating his breakfast and ran around the terminal for us, figuring out what to do. With his help we got things situated, and after saying bye I got on a flight to Brussels. There were 10 people on that flight, including me. They stuck me by the bathroom in the back, but it wasn't so bad because everyone was passed out and didn't use it, and I got to spread out and take a lil nap. The Brussels airport was rather lame-- they didn't even sell waffles in there. What's the point of having a lay-over in Belgium if I can't get any Belgian waffles? I settled for a lil sandwich and walked around the hella long terminal a lot because I forgot what gate I was supposed to go to. I got back to Copenhagen, and it felt so strange when I realized that I had missed the city. That relief you feel when you come back to a comfortable place-- that's what I never expected to feel in Denmark, but I was really looking forward to getting back. I took the s-train back to Hoje Taastrup, and I walked into a busy house. Everyone was dressed nicely and preparing all this food. The next day was Easter Sunday, but because my host dad's a pastor and he'd be at church all day, our family was having Easter lunch the day before. So I literally dropped my bags, took a shower, tied my hair, and went downstairs to a 6 hour meal. Danish dinner parties can last from 6 to 12 hours, and Easter and Christmas meals are the most significant. I was running on 2 hours of sleep, and was pretty much delirious by the time I sat down at the table, but what could I do-- it was Easter lunch. We had pickled herring, rodbrod, eggs, all that good stuff. Then the casseroles and frikadeller came out. And the alcohol. Danish schnapps are really strong- and I thought you were supposed to take it in shots. But the parents were like "oh no no no!!!! we want you to live through this meal." It tastes strongly of cinnamon- and it makes you make the "chyaaaaa" noise after a sip. I left the table about 3 hours later, and went to bed at 8pm that night.
The next day was Easter, and the First International Baptist Church that I attended held Easter service in song. A number of people had been preparing a lil concert thing- "something something and the Lion of Judah." and basically the service was the concert. But it was so blessing. Again, it wasn't really my style-- but it was beautiful nonetheless.
Back at school nothing changed much. Criminology still sucked, Modern Scandinavian Literature was boring, Environmental History was confusing to understand because the prof talks in circles with an English accent, and my Danish class was awesome as always. There were more trips though. We read Isak Dinesen's- really Karen Blixen- "Out of Africa" and took a trip to her Danish house. The Danish classes went to the FCK vs. Odense football game. I went to the largest reforestation scheme in Denmark with Env. History-- it's a huge beach and forest along the northern coast of Sjaelland (Zealand).
Karen Blixen's backyard/haven for birds, Karen Blixen in her grave-me-Sam, pregaming for the FCK football game, all those red seats are the opposing team (from another city on Jylland), Tisvilde Hagn - the reforestation scheme, the beach of Tisvilde Hagn, rape seed fields (they're more impressive in person and in other people's pictures-- this is the closest I got to them unfortunately..)
The Queen had her birthday sometime in April, and I went along with the rest of Denmark to wish her a Happy Birthday in the square. The new Danish Princess was born, too. I was getting ready to go to the Royal Ballet to watch "Napoli" when I heard the news that the Princess was born, and at the ballet the Queen was there so it was extra special. But I thought it was kinda weird- shouldn't she have been at the hospital with her family instead of at the ballet? The weather in Copenhagen is absolutely freakin beautiful- the total opposite of the dead winter.
Micro-brewery hopping, Nyhavn, international ultimate frisbee group, Danish class on the way to see the Queen
In Barcelona we met some Germans and immediately befriended them in one day. We stayed in touch and Anna and I decided that we wanted to take a weekend trip and visit them in Konstanz. It's funny- they show pictures of it in karaoke places. You know how sometimes they just random background scenes during a song? There's a lot of images from the Bodensee (Lake Constance). The weekend was a little rainy in southern Germany but it was still a nice time.
The Fall of the Rhein, Old Konstanz, Konstanz City Hall and my pretzel blocking out the person in front of me, playground on the Flower Island, spaetzle and bratwurst, we taught the Germans how to eat apples with peanut butter- and this is our other ghetto dessert with the crapload of chocolate I bought, I forget the name of this one- but a town on the other side of Lake Constance, spaghetti ice, more of the Fall
My Danish class was a total of 12 women- the intensive Danish class. It's better that there were no guys- we got pretty personal in class if you know what I mean. Our teacher's name is Suzanne, and she lives the perfect life that we all imagined her to have. She's like the quintessential Danish woman- she's got the perfect personality and brains, beautiful sons, she loves her job, and US :) She invited us for a dinner party at her place in Holte.
And the last night there was a gathering for our program at "Den Glaede Gris" - "the happy pig." It's dubbed "the american bar" because of how many of us go there. My friend and I ran into another guy that we met at the beginning on the Carlsberg Brewery tour - our going out came full circle.
Caroline- that's our kitchen counter, the movie theater, Anna and Aidan, Denmark Pride
Okay that should be it. Not exactly, but it's a gist.. I've been missing Denmark lately. And the people I met. Too bad the timing was so off.
Now my days are full of baby-sitting, washing dishes, going to the supermarket, doing laundry, and walking my cousin's dog. Life's been boring but it's kinda good. And random stuff comes up all the time. My back is so burnt right now from the beach a few days ago. I need to find a dress for my aunt's wedding this Saturday. ahhhhh
I will try to write more coherent and better-thought out entries from now on. Because I'm taking dna's advice and using this as my nonexistent book.
