Hej Hej Denmark

Reasons I studied in Copenhagen: (Before)

• Cycling-Copenhagen is the place where cycling is a part of your body and I wanted to experience this attachment that Danes seemed to have with their bike.
• Copenhagen is SO “green”-due to the bikes, Denmark seems to be leading the world in the how to be “green” and responsible when it comes to living on this earth
• Scandinavia-I felt like going to either Spain or Italy was not as exciting as going to a Scandinavian country because let’s face it people, it’s not really destination number one on many American’s list of places to visit. I wanted to go somewhere that would challenge this idea of going to the “regular” study abroad destinations.

Reasons I’m glad I studied abroad: (after)

• Winter: I now know how to properly dress for winter. You may laugh but I find this is an essential skill that everyone needs to know how to do. Winters in Denmark can be very brutal and I went through my fair share of frozen toes, fingers and the dreadful cold that won’t go away to know that it’s nothing to play around with.

• Danish language and Culture: one of my favorite classes. It was just fun to learn how to say each word even though the pronunciation and spelling differ a lot. The culture is just fascinating. Let’s just say I can see why this is the happiest country.

• Friends: here comes the cheesy moment. I've made so many friends while in Denmark that I would have never met. I was able to study with a friend from high school which I didn't think would happen again.

• Fashion: yep, you read right. These people are so fashionable it’s a little scary. They can rock anything with a pair of sneakers. Black is not seen as gothic or emo but the preferred color for every event. Now just because I'm talking about the fashion doesn't mean I've become some kind of fashion expert.

• Biking: What an experience. It seemed as though the wind was always going against me whenever I biked but I can proudly say that I can now ride with no hands, even if it’s only for about 30 seconds.

• Traveling: I've seen and done so much and I hope to never forget the lessons I've learned from these places I have been to.

• Host family: I’m definitely going to miss my host family the most. They took me in without knowing what I would be like and they are just amazing people. Tine, my host mom, is one of the coolest, most caring people I know. I feel as though she is my other mother.

With those reasons said, how can I properly describe my experience abroad?

………..hmmm………………I wish I could describe to you everything I’m feeling right now. It’s not fear or sadness or happiness or nostalgia or courage. Try to imagine all of those things plus some all wrapped up in a box with a beautiful ribbon. I feel like a young child on Christmas morning coming downstairs to see a big box waiting for me. As I approach it, my hearts begins to beat faster and faster as my imagination runs wild with the thoughts of what lies in the box. As I open the box, I know that nothing will disappoint me at that specific moment in time. This is what I feel about my study abroad experience. Nothing can disappoint me about it. Everything I’ve done here, the food I’ve eaten, the experiences I’ve had, and the places I’ve traveled to are forever engraved in my memories. And whenever I think of it, it will be as though I’m opening that big box on Christmas day.

Packing

I am currently packing and boy do I seem to have a lot of things with me even though it will all come down to two suitcases, one carry-on and my backpack which to some isn't very much for a girl. I seem to accumulate many little things during the year but when it comes time to pack to leave (which I do frequently) I always pick and choose the most important things to take with me. So while many may hate packing, I see it as a way to discard myself of the useless things I've bought. And what do I do with these things? Well I usually try to donate them. Ok, I guess I should go back to packing now, wish me luck! I leave tomorrow morning.

Just some rain for ya.

I had my core course presentation this past Wednesday and what a day that was! I'll start from the beginning with my trip to the station.

This started off as any other day, you know I woke up, had my yogurt for breakfast and took a shower. The only difference was that it was raining here and there. Nothing fancy. It was around 10:56am and I was supposed to meet a friend at 12:00 at school to go over my presentation. When I left the house, it was drizzling a little bit and I was 80% sure that I would make it to the station within 10 minutes. 2 minutes into my bike ride, well wouldn't you guess it, the clouds let loose everything they had inside of them. And I mean EVERYTHING. Stupid me thought "Oh it's fine, it's just a little rain". Well no. It was more than a little rain, I felt like I was swimming in the ocean and I was not having a good time. After the brutal realization that I should probably not bike during this stormy weather, I thought "hey! I can take the bus". I started biking to the bus station which was in the direction back towards my house. I get there and literally 2.5 minutes later, everything just stopped. No rain, no wind, no cars, no life. I was soaking wet and there was no proof that it was due to the rain.

I checked the timetable at the bus stop to see when the next bus would arrive and just my luck, I had missed the bus by 3 minutes and the next one wasn't arriving for another 45 minutes. I had two options, wait for the bus and be extremely late or just bike. I chose to bike of course in hopes that the rain had stopped for good. I began to bike and it wasn't bad. I get about 1/2 way to the station and it starts drizzling again, I just bike faster because the rain is beginning to come down faster. 3/4 of the way there, I can't see very well because of all the rain drops covering my glasses and by this time everything but my torso was wet (thank you raincoat!). I decide that before something bad happens, I should just take a break from fighting with mother nature because I was obviously not going to win. And so, I pull over, park my bike and enter into a random store. As soon as I walk in, the receptionist looks at me and can already tell i'm just using their facility as shelter from the rain. All I say to her through my wet face is "hi". While in there, I use the bathroom to get paper towels to try and pat myself "dry". Once out of the bathroom, I start starring longingly outside the window saying "rain rain go away" and unlike those creepy witch movies, my chanting did not work. Something came over me though, why was I going to let some rain (even though it technically already beat me) win? I still had to meet my friend and so, I went out one last time. I mounted my bike and rode through d torrential rain, stopping once again just to clean my glasses of all the water. As I peddled through the last stretch of the bike ride, I knew I learned a few things.

Lesson 1. Invest in rain pants and rain boots.
Lesson 2: if you are going to bike in the rain, try to wear black because when it gets wet, it only looks better!

Though it took me 30 minutes to bike to the station, I was only 20 minutes late to meet my friend. Not too bad. Once at my school though, I went into the bathroom and started using the hand dryer to dry myself which it worked very well.

At about 15:00 (3pm), I went to my class to do my presentation. My group did a really good job presenting. We had our final core course dinner afterwards and it was great. The brew-house we went to had a drink named Flora which I of course had to get. And it was delicious! The sad part was saying goodbye to everyone afterwards. My friend Meredith was saying "Have a great life" to everyone and it was so bitter sweet. We will most likely never see each other again even though we say we will. It's crazy how in life you will meet people that change your life for either that moment in time or for hears to come. You tell yourself you will meet again but that's not always the case. It's as if we are protecting our own feelings from the reality that "hey, this is it buddy, see you never...". Are we as humans so scared of experiencing such emotions that it has become first nature to act that way? This needs to stop! Why are people so afraid of telling each other the truth? People say the truth hurts. Well gosh darn it, I can handle the pain. I'm not saying it doesn't suck to know I won't see the people I've met abroad again but just hit me with it. I promise I can handle it.

So enough rambling, I've only got a 5 days left in this beautiful country called Denmark, 5 days left with my wonderful host family who I can't even begin comprehending that I won't be living with them anymore. I need to make the best of it. NO. I WILL make the best of it.

Until next time!

Short Post about May 1st

Wednesday May 1^st: May 1^st in a public holiday in Denmark so I went to Faelledparken which is a huge park in Copenhagen to celebrate what is essentially Labor Day here in Denmark and listen to some live music. I went with my host family and a few of my friends. It was such a nice day (weather wise). Different political parties also gave speeches with one of them not going so well... Many protestors began booing I believe it was the mayor of Copenhagen and smoke was involved and it was getting really intense and a little bit scary as well. But the police was not involved so I guess it was a good “riot”.