A spontaneous two weeks in Denmark
So, the last time I wrote, I'd been in Denmark for only two days. I had a little infinity. Life was good. I have a couple hours left now, and somehow, my two weeks are up. I knew my time would go fast, but it doesn't mean I'm any more ready to fly back to the USA. Leaving Denmark will always undoubtedly be one of my least favorite experiences. I hope there will come a day when I don't have to leave.
As I said in my last blog post, while I was here, I didn't want to make a lot of plans. I wanted to take each day as it came. I did exactly that, and I will tell you that I enjoyed my time to the max, and that while time went fast, I still felt like I had a grip on it. That is an improvement from last time I was here. I feel like, in the two weeks I've been here, I've done and accomplished all that I set out to do. That is quite possibly because I set out to do literally nothing except for speak Danish. Amazing what having no agenda can do for your agenda.
I landed on Wednesday the 20th, and on Friday the 22nd I went out with my host sister to her ex-boyfriend's birthday party (??). It is still freezing in Denmark, and I went out with little clothes, so then I got sick. I spent Saturday taking photos and videos until I took a nap. On Sunday, I spent the day drinking tea and taking ibuprofen and relaxing. It pained to me to spend one day in Denmark doing absolutely nothing at home when I would have rather gone out for a bike ride or to a cafe, but I knew that spending one day getting better would pain me less than pushing through it and spending one week miserable here.
That evening, I was definitely feeling better, and my host brothers and I went and visited my host mom at her new job. I also got the best pizza I've ever had that night. Danish pizza is alright unless you get the right kind of pizza at the right place, and then it is hella good. I got kebab pizza which is not something I've seen anywhere else. It's pizza with kebab meat on it. I've missed it terribly, so it was like experiencing rebirth. How fitting for the Easter holidays. (Can you tell I'm not religious?) Monday, I went out and got some good ravioli, bought a pair of jeans and a scarf, and then got coffee in my favorite cafe with my former Rotary counselor. I then biked home, ate dinner, and chilled out.
On Tuesday, I went to Aarhus. I am planning on applying to a graduate program there (master's in linguistics), and have been planning on that for almost two years now, so I was able to meet with a professor within the program. After I talked to the professor and walked around the university a little bit (Aarhus University) I met with an old friend from my class here in Denmark. We walked around Aarhus, ate lunch, and spoke in Danish all day. That morning, I drank my coffee while biking to the train to go to Aarhus. I had my thick gray scarf on, heavy winter coat, and black jeans that I bought here. After that entire day of speaking Danish and drinking black coffee while biking, I joked that I felt like an ultra-Dane, and that I'd reached peak Danish-ness. I sent a Snapchat to friends saying "I have assimilated."
On Wednesday, I got dinner with three other girls that I knew from my exchange year. I'm used to speaking English with these three girls that I ate dinner with, but after having spoken in Danish the whole day before, and all day with my host parents on Wednesday, it was almost hard to speak in English. I've been noticing that I am code-switching (switching either intentionally or unintentionally between two or more languages) much easier. I have been thinking in Danish when I'm thinking to myself, instead of thinking in English.
On Thursday, my host family hosted a påskefrokost, which is an "Easter lunch", but is deceitful in that it can be held at any time around the Easter holiday - not just on Easter - and that it can also be held invariably throughout the day. It's not just lunch, and it's not just on Easter. My host family's Easter lunch started at 1 PM, and I am pretty sure that the last people to leave the house left around 1 AM. The Danes really do know how to go hard. Friday, my host dad and I went for a walk on the beach and then ate pasta for dinner together. I went out and biked down to the waterfront at night to get long exposures of the city.
On Saturday (yesterday), I had 620 DKK left (about $102) and you can best believe that I spent it all on clothes. I bought a pair of pants that I think are very popular here, and that I decided I definitely wanted to have with me in the USA. I also bought two shirts and a jacket. I am so proud of myself for finally using money on practical things like clothes, and for having not spent literally $102 on snacks. If only I'd had that level of self-control and discipline on my exchange year. At my host family's Easter lunch, I actually had a family member say "wow, look how thin you've become!" which truly epitomizes how bad things were three years ago.
And now, today, we had one last mini påskefrokost with my host mom's mother. We ate, went out for a walk, ate chocolate cake, and then my host mom's mom left. I went out for a bike ride, and then went to the beach during the golden hour. When I came home from the beach, I went out for another bike ride right before sunset, and went to say some last minute goodbyes. When I woke up this morning, it was snowing. By the middle of the day, the sun was shining. It is only the second time this week that we got sunshine, so I feel lucky to have seen a sunny day and a beautiful sunset on my last day here in Denmark this time around.
My last couple of hours are now upon me, and I am trying to figure out how to spend them. If I decide to soak in all my last hours here in Denmark and don't go to sleep, then it'll be closer to 30 hours since I've last slept by the time I get back to the USA. I already need to be up in just under four hours, so I really don't see a point in going to sleep. I guess only my fleeting time will tell what I end up doing.
For now, that is unfortunately all. Thank you again, Denmark, for the family and the friends, the food and the clothes, the biking and the weather, and the laughs and conversations that I had in Danish. I have again been given an innumerable amount of reasons as to why I should always come back here. Denmark will always be my first choice.
Vi ses til næste gang.
As I said in my last blog post, while I was here, I didn't want to make a lot of plans. I wanted to take each day as it came. I did exactly that, and I will tell you that I enjoyed my time to the max, and that while time went fast, I still felt like I had a grip on it. That is an improvement from last time I was here. I feel like, in the two weeks I've been here, I've done and accomplished all that I set out to do. That is quite possibly because I set out to do literally nothing except for speak Danish. Amazing what having no agenda can do for your agenda.
I landed on Wednesday the 20th, and on Friday the 22nd I went out with my host sister to her ex-boyfriend's birthday party (??). It is still freezing in Denmark, and I went out with little clothes, so then I got sick. I spent Saturday taking photos and videos until I took a nap. On Sunday, I spent the day drinking tea and taking ibuprofen and relaxing. It pained to me to spend one day in Denmark doing absolutely nothing at home when I would have rather gone out for a bike ride or to a cafe, but I knew that spending one day getting better would pain me less than pushing through it and spending one week miserable here.
That evening, I was definitely feeling better, and my host brothers and I went and visited my host mom at her new job. I also got the best pizza I've ever had that night. Danish pizza is alright unless you get the right kind of pizza at the right place, and then it is hella good. I got kebab pizza which is not something I've seen anywhere else. It's pizza with kebab meat on it. I've missed it terribly, so it was like experiencing rebirth. How fitting for the Easter holidays. (Can you tell I'm not religious?) Monday, I went out and got some good ravioli, bought a pair of jeans and a scarf, and then got coffee in my favorite cafe with my former Rotary counselor. I then biked home, ate dinner, and chilled out.
On Tuesday, I went to Aarhus. I am planning on applying to a graduate program there (master's in linguistics), and have been planning on that for almost two years now, so I was able to meet with a professor within the program. After I talked to the professor and walked around the university a little bit (Aarhus University) I met with an old friend from my class here in Denmark. We walked around Aarhus, ate lunch, and spoke in Danish all day. That morning, I drank my coffee while biking to the train to go to Aarhus. I had my thick gray scarf on, heavy winter coat, and black jeans that I bought here. After that entire day of speaking Danish and drinking black coffee while biking, I joked that I felt like an ultra-Dane, and that I'd reached peak Danish-ness. I sent a Snapchat to friends saying "I have assimilated."
On Wednesday, I got dinner with three other girls that I knew from my exchange year. I'm used to speaking English with these three girls that I ate dinner with, but after having spoken in Danish the whole day before, and all day with my host parents on Wednesday, it was almost hard to speak in English. I've been noticing that I am code-switching (switching either intentionally or unintentionally between two or more languages) much easier. I have been thinking in Danish when I'm thinking to myself, instead of thinking in English.
On Thursday, my host family hosted a påskefrokost, which is an "Easter lunch", but is deceitful in that it can be held at any time around the Easter holiday - not just on Easter - and that it can also be held invariably throughout the day. It's not just lunch, and it's not just on Easter. My host family's Easter lunch started at 1 PM, and I am pretty sure that the last people to leave the house left around 1 AM. The Danes really do know how to go hard. Friday, my host dad and I went for a walk on the beach and then ate pasta for dinner together. I went out and biked down to the waterfront at night to get long exposures of the city.
On Saturday (yesterday), I had 620 DKK left (about $102) and you can best believe that I spent it all on clothes. I bought a pair of pants that I think are very popular here, and that I decided I definitely wanted to have with me in the USA. I also bought two shirts and a jacket. I am so proud of myself for finally using money on practical things like clothes, and for having not spent literally $102 on snacks. If only I'd had that level of self-control and discipline on my exchange year. At my host family's Easter lunch, I actually had a family member say "wow, look how thin you've become!" which truly epitomizes how bad things were three years ago.
And now, today, we had one last mini påskefrokost with my host mom's mother. We ate, went out for a walk, ate chocolate cake, and then my host mom's mom left. I went out for a bike ride, and then went to the beach during the golden hour. When I came home from the beach, I went out for another bike ride right before sunset, and went to say some last minute goodbyes. When I woke up this morning, it was snowing. By the middle of the day, the sun was shining. It is only the second time this week that we got sunshine, so I feel lucky to have seen a sunny day and a beautiful sunset on my last day here in Denmark this time around.
My last couple of hours are now upon me, and I am trying to figure out how to spend them. If I decide to soak in all my last hours here in Denmark and don't go to sleep, then it'll be closer to 30 hours since I've last slept by the time I get back to the USA. I already need to be up in just under four hours, so I really don't see a point in going to sleep. I guess only my fleeting time will tell what I end up doing.
For now, that is unfortunately all. Thank you again, Denmark, for the family and the friends, the food and the clothes, the biking and the weather, and the laughs and conversations that I had in Danish. I have again been given an innumerable amount of reasons as to why I should always come back here. Denmark will always be my first choice.
Vi ses til næste gang.
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