Saying Goodbye

This past week has been an absolute blur of hours of studying, goodbyes to friends and attempts to cram in some last minute sight-seeing.

On the contrary, last weekend was relaxing. I hung out at home on Friday, and then on Saturday, after successfully making gingerbread cookies, I had a bunch of friends from SLU over for dinner. My host family was at a birthday party, so we had the house to ourselves. I cooked frikadeller for the first time (YAY) and we made pasta and salad. For dessert we ate and decorated some Christmas cookies! It was so nice to have a little Christmas party, something I always do at SLU, in a Danish context. Not only did we eat Danish food, but we also enjoyed good company in a very hygge-fied environment.

On Sunday of last weekend, my host parents had their annual Christmas party in their carport! It was really nice to meet some more of the neighbors while we enjoyed various treats including æbleskiver (a cake-like donut that is eaten with jam and sugar) and 7 liters of homemade gløgg (warm, spiced wine). One of the neighbors is a visiting family to a DIS student, meaning they sponsor a student living in a Kollegium. Emily, their student from Vancouver, was really nice and it was great to have someone to chat with at the party and they invited me for a traditional Danish Christmas dinner afterwards. (I have now officially lost count of how many Christmas dinners I have had, and although they are amazing, I feel like if I eat another one or especially anymore potatoes, I’m going to turn into one!)

This past week, I attended my last classes at DIS on Monday and Tuesday. I had no finals until this week, a blessing and curse, so I spent last week trying to get some studying in, organizing to start packing, and visiting some last minute sites. Grandma's birthday, 79!, was on Tuesday, so I had ANOTHER amazing dinner at their house. Like me, Grandma loves sweets so I brought her a bunch of the Christmas cookies I had made. I was so surprised though, because at her dinner, she and grandpa gave me a gorgeous necklace! I was shocked and honored as well, it was so nice of them especially after all that they have done for me! Now I wish I had gotten them something a little nicer for Christmas...

On Thursday, some friends and I decided to visit the Carlsberg factory. While I am not the biggest fan of beer, Carlsberg has such a huge presence in Denmark that I would feel that I missed out if I didn't go. While we arrived a little late and had to rush through the exhibits in order to make it to the bar for our free drinks (2 free beers or sodas!) before it closed, it was still really interesting to walk through the old factory and learn a little bit about how Carlsberg has evolved and how beer is made.

On Friday, my host family made me a traditional Danish lunch, of open faced sandwiches with…various toppings. We had one with curried herring, smoked herring, salmon, and eel. Yes, eel. It was actually quite good although watching it be cleaned was disgusting. We topped the whole thing off with some snaps.
This past weekend was another attempt at cramming as much studying in as possible, while also doing things with my family. On Saturday, which turned out to be sunny (YAY, I was worried I wouldn’t see the sun before I left Denmark) I said goodbye to my rollerksiing group in the morning and met Inger and Bent for lunch at Sophienholm, a cute restaurant on the lake.
After visiting a local bakery, St. Peders, as I think I am the only DIS student to have never been there, I had my first two exams today. Not only am I exhausted but my hand physically hurts from all the writing! I can’t believe I only have two more days here. Tomorrow will be my last day in Copenhagen as my train-card expires. So I will take an exam, hopefully do some last minute shopping, attend closing ceremonies and say goodbye to my friend Christine before heading home and out of Copenhagen for good. :(

Wednesday will be a day full of packing as I attempt to fit everything back in my bags and under the weight limit. I think Inger and Bent will make my favorite burger-type beef thing for dinner on my last night, and then we have a full morning on Thursday. Inger is taking the day off and I think we’re going to run around the lake before heading to the grandparents and finally get to the airport around 11:15.

Right now, I’m stuck in the middle. I can’t believe its over and I don’t want it to be, but I’m ready to go. At the same time, I am fully exhausted. It feels like I am psychologically and physically dragging my heels as I try to absorb as much as I can of this place so I will remember everything about it. It’s time to say goodbye, and I know I’m ready, I’m just not totally sure I want to be.

The biggest thing is that it is another change. Leaving Denmark, just like coming here, is like starting all over again.

Christmas Time is Here

Thank God for candles and Christmas lights. Without them, Denmark would be a little depressing this time of year as the daylight dwindles, the rain and wind pick up, and the temperature is increasingly erratic.
Last weekend my host parents came into Copenhagen and stumbled upon the lighting of the tree in Rådhuspladsen, very much like the tree in Rockefeller center on a much smaller scale. Like the town hall, much of the rest of Copenhagen is slowly being lit up. Fresh greens and lights with hearts and snowflakes line the streets and Christmas decorations seem to be for sale in every store. A few ice skating rinks have been set up and Christmas markets are everywhere. If only I had any money left to spend! The city is truly coming to life as the lights fill the streets, Christmas cookies and Christmas 'lunches' fill our stomachs, decorations fill the stores and houses, and happiness fills up the darkness around us.

While I was exhausted Monday from my overnight trip back to Copenhagen, it was amazing to get back home to find the house magically decorated. I walked around as if mystified by the cute decorations in every corner as the house was peppered with Christmas elves, candles and ornaments hanging from the ceiling, on display in the cabinets, sitting on my computer desk and dangling from the stairs!

Monday night, we had dinner at the grandparents which, although I was tired, was exactly what I needed to get relaxed and ready for the stressful weeks ahead. We had an amazing dinner as usual, followed by æblecage, or apple cake for dessert. The grandparent’s house was equally as beautifully decorated and they were in the process of setting up their Christmas tree! Grandma, whose birthday celebration is on Tuesday (YAY!), also gave me and Louise a Christmas decoration of three elves hanging from a rope, which is to be hung from the ceiling or from a stairwell. While I thought it was gorgeous right away, I was taken aback when I learned that she had knitted the figures herself!

In addition to my already giddy Christmas attitude, my host mom has made me a countdown calendar like the one my host sister gets every year from Grandma. Rather than having cheap chocolate punch-outs this calendar is complete with fully-wrapped gifts hanging and completely overloading the calendar! It is exciting to wake up every morning to see what my new gift is! So far I've gotten a count-down candle, some Lakrids (a Danish black-licorice flavored candy that is rather salty and quickly spit out by most Americans, including myself) a Christmas elf, and a candle holder! Who knows what tomorrow will bring!

Continuing with the Christmas spirit, I spent most of yesterday making Christmas cookies including some family favorites from home like biscotti, church windows, Mexican tea cakes and butter cookies! After spending 3 days looking for the right ingredients I think I'm going to attempt to make gingerbread cookies this weekend, and will hopefully get some friends to help me decorate!

I guess it is obvious at this point that not only do I love Christmas, but apparently Denmark does too! If I didn't have these silly exams to get through, I can only imagine the fun things I'd be doing around Copenhagen! Either way, I'm going to try to make the most of my last 2 weeks here (I can't believe it's almost over already!) while hopefully getting some much needed studying in for my exams.

Boy am I gonna miss Denmark, especially my host family! But at the same time, now that I've seen my family again, I'm also ready to get home. The pressure of exams and mixed feelings of leaving are going to make these next two weeks an emotional rollercoaster!

Out and Back Again

As my host dad was driving me home Monday morning around 6:30am, it finally dawned on me that I had just finished my last European trip. I have three weeks left here, well two and a half now, and before I know it I’m going to be in a plane on the way to a place I love and leaving a place I love…

Anyway, what this entry is REALLY about is my ski trip to Sweden. I met a girl named Christine, at a rollerski race early in the semester and she has been extremely helpful in getting me involved with other ski training opportunities and also accommodating my cultural challenges. She and I went on this ski trip with her local ski club, Holte Skiklub, to Idre, Sweden. We left on Thursday night around seven and drove through the night arriving in Idre around eight the next morning.

Idre was a nice ski area, although the trail system was not huge. Before we had arrived apparently there were concerns with the amount of snow, but I never checked because I figured I was in it for the long haul: snow or no snow. Luckily, or so they say, it snowed the whole trip up there and the first two days we were there. It was relatively crowded because of the lack of trails, and huge number of people at Idre; not only were two busloads of Danish skiers invading the trails, but Idre was also hosting pretty big ski races both Saturday and Sunday. While I regret not doing the races, I think based on my rented equipment and borrowed wax, it might have been a frustrating experience. The temperatures were mild the whole weekend, hovering right around freezing, but the wind chill definitely played a part.

I spent the weekend with 7 Danes, in an 8 person cabin with two bathrooms and three bedrooms. Everyone was really nice and friendly, although they spoke Danish pretty much the entire trip, which left me VERY much out of the loop and a little isolated. My bunk mates were an interesting mix: adventure seekers planning to do the Vassa, a 90 kilometer ski race in March; two really intense brothers who appeared unable to clean up after themselves and listened to their IPODs every time they skied, despite the fact that they were receiving coaching; and two girls who seemed to enjoy skiing, but didn’t take it too seriously. The rest of the Danish group were mostly casual skiers, middle aged and older, who rocked some pretty amazing outfits and had personalities to match.

On Friday, we skied around on our own, just easy to get warmed up. It was lightly snowing and the trails had not been recently groomed because of all the snow from the night before, so we did what we could.

On Saturday we woke up to very windy conditions and still snowy weather. While the temperature was warm, the wind made it FREEZING. We went out for coaching in the morning and afternoon, which turned out to be a bust for me as my group was mostly beginners and in general I got no specific feedback or coaching. Regardless, it was good to do some balance drills and any time on snow is better than none. Being a little disappointed with the amount of actual skiing I was able to do, I stayed out after dark, therefore after three p.m, to ski on the groomed lit loop. Unfortunately, because of the heavy snow, they were mostly waiting for it to stop before grooming, so the trails were completely covered with drifted snow, leaving a 2.5k loop the only really ski-able area- although even then I broke trail every time I skied the loop.

Sunday morning everything changed. The snow and wind stopped and the weather cleared. Our coach got sick, so we joined another group before ducking out and skiing the newly groomed 15k loop instead. It was amazing. I went out early, while it was still dark, to get 45min in before we met up, but then spent almost four hours outside LOVING the snow! It was great skiing, beautiful conditions and lots of fun. I suddenly rediscovered why I love skiing! After a lunch break consisting of dark bread with mackerel in tomato, some crackers, and way too much chocolate, we headed back out for a quick hour ski before rushing back to the cabin to clean it and pack up our stuff. We left around 4pm and after doing some reading I, fully exhausted from my weekend of Danish immersion and long skiing hours, passed out on the long bus ride through cute Swedish towns as we headed south to rainy Copenhagen.