Home Again

  At 9 am in Bethesda, I've already been awake almost 4 hours. Which is actually not bad, because I can see the floor of my room again- it's looked like a tornado whipped through for the past two days. I returned home Saturday evening after a slightly delayed flight (but I really can't complain, since quite a few of my friends are stuck in Europe for the near future due to the weather). The past day and a half that I've been home, I've been pretty exhausted, but we got our christmas tree and it's definitely nice to be back. I missed my family, my boyfriend James, my friends (even though I've been too exhausted to see anyone yet), and of course our poodle Cassie and my monster puppy Bear. When I walked in the door Saturday, I was almost crushed by 120 pounds of jumping puppy- at least he didn't forget me!
  As great as it is to be home, it was really hard to leave my host family. On Thursday, after my final for my Complexity of Cancer class, I went home to some frantic repacking and dinner with my host family, before I went with all my host sisters and my far Jess to my mor's choir Christmas concert. They later told me that was the first time all of them had been to the concert, and that my far only went because of me. It was a very nice concert and I got to hear lots of traditional Danish christmas songs, as well as some American ones!
  After the concert we went to my far's brother's house for gløgg and æbleskiver, which was a lot of fun (and delicious!). We stayed there a while before I had to come back and study. When my mor came home, she said that one of the women in her choir said that she saw all of my mor's four daughters, but that she was surprised she had never seen me before.  It was really sweet. 
  Friday I had two finals, for my Copenhagen class and my Medical Practice and Policy class, before being done with my semester abroad. My friends and I from MPP got lunch together and then walked to the nearby Folketeatret (People's Theater) for the DIS Concluding Ceremony. It was long but very nice, and a good way to end the semester with friends, music, and some pretty good speeches. When the ceremony was over I went back home and hung out with my host family for a while before dinner. But before we were allowed to eat, my far wanted to present me with a speech he had written for me. He said that he would have been proud to have me as his daughter, that he regretted me not finding a boy in Denmark and deciding to stay, and that he had found a few presents for me to remind me of my time with them in Denmark. It was very sweet and I think everyone teared up a little bit. 
  After that we ate dinner and I gave them their presents, and we watched CSI and drank tea together one last time. I then went into the city with my friends for a last night out in Copenhagen, came back and went to bed for a few hours before getting up for breakfast (my last Danish from far!) and heading to the airport with my far and Maja. They dropped me off before security and I headed to the plane. Luckily some of my friends were on what was arguably the longest flight of my life (although compared to people stuck in Europe right now, it's really not bad at all), but it was a difficult combination of excitement to be home and sadness at leaving my host family.
  That feeling is still there, although slightly dampened by jetlagged exhaustion and my attempts to unpack my life again. So this is the end of my blog (for now, at least) hopefully it's been enjoyable and interesting. Vi ses!

The Beginning of the End

  It's almost 1 in the morning as I sit in my bed listening to christmas music, and I know I should go to bed since I plan on getting up early, but I can't seem to sleep much this week. Maybe it's the dawning realization that this really is my last week- in less than 72 hours, I will be back home. And while I'm undoubtedly so excited to see my family, dogs, boyfriend and friends, Copenhagen (especially Birkerød with my fantastic host family) has become home as well. And it's always hard to leave home.
  With three finals to go in the next two days, last-minute packing wasn't really an option. My room, therefore, looks rather desolate now- mostly packed suitcases in one corner, a pile of trash I seemed to find more of with every sweep of the room, and two empty walls that less than 4 months ago I covered with pictures, postcards, and maps. But with all that, this has still managed to be an incredible past couple days, and I know the next two will be just as memorable. Sadly, pictures will not be appearing anymore until I get home, because my camera cord seems to be in the abyss of one of my bags.
  Monday was a very relaxing day, which was just what I needed to recover from the Shakira concert. It turns out my voice did too, as my friend Aaron dubbed me "Squeaky," saying I sounded like a slightly punctured squeak toy. Even my host family (far particularly) enjoyed making fun of my inability to make recognizably human sounds for most of the past 3 days. Aaron and I did some christmas shopping around Copenhagen, and then met up with our friend Taylor to go ice skating on an outdoor rink in Frederiksberg Have, what used to be the Danish King's summer palace and gardens. Aaron's been skating since he was 3 years old, so he really enjoyed showing off his moves to Taylor and I, who could barely move. I'll admit I was by far the worst of the bunch, to the point where 10 year old danish boys were using me as a traffic cone. I only fell twice (which my host dad was very impressed by)! When I got home I found that my host family had prepared yet another special treat- ris a la mande, a traditional christmas dish (yet another rice pudding, but with chopped almonds this time!). It's normally eaten the day before Christmas Eve, and one whole almond is mixed into the pudding. Whoever gets the almond wins a little prize- and I was the lucky one who got it! (more chocolate!)
  Tuesday was slightly more eventful, although it also began with shopping for christmas presents. Luckily, I'm done now (because I'm honestly not sure my bags can hold everything). Taylor & I went back to her house in the afternoon and studied for a little bit, before making pancakes (real american ones!) for her host family for dinner. Turns out they're delicious with cinnamon sugar... you really do learn something new every day! After dinner we went back into the city to meet our friend Vicki at the Royal Theater Old Stage, a beautiful building from around 1880 on Kongens Nytorv, one of the most iconic and central squares of Copenhagen. We'd never been in the theater before so it was amazing to see it! We were there to see the ballet Tornerose (Sleeping Beauty). As we were waiting for the ballet to start, everybody in the audience stood up. This caused great confusion among the 3 of us until we looked across the audience and saw Denmark's Queen Margrethe II and her husband Prince Henrik!!! The ballet was great but I have to admit I spent almost as much time watching the Queen- I can now say I saw her before leaving Denmark!
  After the ballet, we were pretty hungry and overdosed on sugar, so we went to a nearby pølse stand and got the ultimate danish hot dog- wrapped in bacon, topped with mustard, ketchup, remoulade, pickles, onions, and fried onions. Sounds like a heart attack? Maybe, but god is it worth it. Delicious. Especially when washed down with a Carlsberg- it's the perfect Danish fast food.
  Today I spent most of my morning studying, before going with Taylor and Ashley to the Carlsberg Brewery (which Ashley and I hadn't been to yet). It was really cool to walk around the brewery, which they've turned into a really cute museum (and we got to see the Carlsberg horses!). We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying our complementary beers in the spacious Jacobsen bar, before heading home. I met my host family at Lyngby and went with them to my mor's sister's house, where we had a birthday party for her granddaughter (also named Sarah!) who was turning one year old. We had a delicious dinner there and spent the evening talking and admiring all the presents Sarah got. We got home in time to have a hyggeligt hour or so with tea and candles before my host family headed to bed and I got to packing. A few hours later, I feel pretty proud of what I've accomplished. If only I knew everything would fit...

Cologne for a Concert

  Well this has been an incredible weekend, and a slightly surreal one at that. I returned a few hours ago from  Köln, Germany, where I spent the weekend with three of my friends- Taylor, Jen, and Clinton. We had decided in September, despite not knowing each other very well, to take this weekend trip for the sole purpose of seeing Shakira in concert. Shakira is in the middle of her European tour following the release of her Sale el Sol album, and my friend Taylor is absolutely obsessed with her. She's been in love with Shakira for years, and has always wanted to go to one of her concerts. And what better way to do that then to fly to Cologne for a weekend? 
  The four of us left Copenhagen on Friday afternoon, arriving an hour later in the Cologne airport. We got into the city around dinnertime, and quickly found our hostel located in the heart of the city. After dropping off our bags, we headed out to find dinner, walking by Cologne's famous Dom (an enormous church that is the seat of the archbishop of Cologne, a world heritage site, and was under construction from 1248-1880). We found a nearby "italian-mexican" restaurant and couldn't resist- it wound up being delicious! Clinton and I split tortellini and a burrito, which may be a strange combination but it definitely satisfied some of our cravings for food that you just can't find easily in Denmark. The rest of the evening was spent wandering around the area surrounding the Dom and our hostel and enjoying the balmy 6 degrees celsius weather.

The Cologne Cathedral at night!

  Saturday morning we woke up around 9 and spent the morning walking around Cologne. We found about 7 different christmas markets to wander through, admiring german crafts and food (gotta love those pretzels). We also got to go inside the Dom which was stunning. It's absolutely enormous! We wandered down by the Rhein River, stopping at some stores and a chocolate museum (before deciding to actually save our euros on the admission price). By 3:30, we were ready to go back to the hostel and get ready for the concert. We walked across the Rhein to the Lanxess Arena where her concert was, arriving there at 5 pm (the concert began at 8). At 6, they let everyone into the arena and we took the opportunity to buy Shakira shirts, check our coats, and stake out a position on the floor by the stage. After waiting there another 2 1/2 hours, Shakira finally appeared (an hour late, but we're willing to forgive her because the concert was phenomenal). 
  To say we enjoyed the concert is an understatement- we screamed, danced, belted the lyrics at the top of our lungs, and even howled at her request (for the song She-Wolf). Of course, I have absolutely no voice today, but it was more than worth it. Shakira is a fantastic performer, with a voice that sounds just as good (if not better) live as it does on music videos/cds. She is also an incredible dancer, stunningly attractive and yet adorable and approachable seeming at the same time. The concert lasted two hours and we loved every song, every second. We were even 5 feet away from her a few times!! 

at the entrance to one of the many Christmas markets!

Taylor, Jen and I at another christmas market!

the Dom

Inside the Dom

a cute square we stumbled upon

SHAKIRA!!!!

  After the concert we were pretty exhausted, so we went back to the hostel and hung out there for a while before falling asleep. Today mainly consisted of breakfast and more wandering before we had to check out and go to the airport for our flight back to Copenhagen! When I got home, I found my host family waiting with a surprise- two traditional Danish dishes they had decided to prepare for me so I will have tried everything Danish by the time I leave! We had risengrød for dinner- a rice pudding that you add cinnamon and butter to (fantastic), with a very sweet christmas beer my family said I had to try. For dessert, we had the infamous rødgrød med flude- red pudding with cream, directly translated, it is notoriously the hardest thing for a non-Dane to pronounce in Danish. The number of times I have been forced to say it is well into the double digits by now, and my efforts apparently never cease to be a source of amusement. My 17 year old host sister Maja had actually never had it before, so it's a traditional dish that nobody eats. It basically consists of lots of red fruits (rhubarb, raspberry, strawberry, cherry) mashed together with something to make it *slightly* more puddinglike. Cream is added on top and that's it! It's pretty delicious, and I definitely enjoyed tasting more traditional Danish food! It was a really fast weekend but so so great! A wonderful way to kick off the last week... 

Risengrod with christmas beer!

Rodgrod med flude!

What do you mean 10 days?

  As I lounge on the couch under a blanket, with my computer in my lap, tea & saravanna cookies in my stomach, and CSI:NY on in the background, I find myself thinking, as I have more frequently the past couple days, about how much there is I still want to do in Copenhagen. With 10 days left before I go home,  this has become quite the pressing issue. I now think that if I don't sleep for all of next week, I should be able to get most things done- spend time with my fantastic host family, pack, study for my 3 final exams, and check the rest of my Copenhagen To-Do list off (Carlsberg brewery tour, Sleeping Beauty ballet at the Royal Theater Old Stage, ice skating, maybe a few more museums/markets). Sounds reasonable, right? Unfortunately, this weekend is lost to Copenhagen exploring as I will be heading to Cologne, Germany tomorrow afternoon for a Shakira concert on Saturday night with 3 of my friends from this semester. Rough life, I know. With this in mind, my past few days have been quite busy- classes are wrapping up and I think I may be the only person who had all their work last week and none this week, so I've been taking advantage of that as much as possible.
  Last Friday, I came home from class in the afternoon to join a christmas cookie baking party that my mor (danish mom) hosts every year. I made chocolate chip cookies, my mor's sister made rumballs, her Norwegian daughter-in-law Kristen made coconut macaroons, and my mor outdid us all with pebernodder (little spicy brown danish cookies), vaniljekranse (vanilla cookies), and little brown snap cookies whose name I didn't catch. It was a very delicious afternoon and we had a great time. Kristen brought her little daughter Sarah, who's going to be a year old next Wednesday! 

My chocolate chip cookies

Mor with her cookies!

 The next day, Saturday, I had a christmas lunch (known as a julefrokost) at my core class teacher Peter's house in nearby Farum. He took the 10 members of my class who came on a walk through the woods surrounding his neighborhood, and then we went to his house for an afternoon of gløgg (hot spiced wine with raisins and almonds), Æbleskiver (essentially pancake-puffs), and other assorted snacks. We also learned how to make some danish christmas crafts!

Walking through the woods of Farum

Our class with Peter and his family!

  My cultural excursions were put temporarily on hold until Wednesday, when my friend Taylor and I paid a visit to Assistens Kirkegården in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen. It's the final resting place of Søren Kierkegaard (apparently the founder of existentialism), Hans Christian Andersen (the ugly duckling! the princess and the pea! the little mermaid!), and Niels Bohr (atom theory), among many others. We wandered around the cemetery for a while, enjoying the snow, before wandering back towards city center (and I'll admit we went into some cute shops along the way).

At Assistens Cemetery! 

With the snowman we found in the middle of the cemetery...

  Yesterday was one of the few Wednesdays I've had a field study, so after getting back to the center I went to Islands Brygge, a metro station in the southeast of Copenhagen, to meet my class (the one on Copenhagen's history and development). This field study was focused on developing areas of Copenhagen, modern architecture, and new ideas for sustainable, people-focused environments. It was really cool! We got to see some great (and some very weird) buildings I would never have seen otherwise, so I definitely appreciated it. And the head-sized cinnamon rolls our teacher provided us with to combat the less-enjoyable aspect of standing in the cold for 2 hours.

Apartments made from Grain silos

"Slanted mountain" building to allow light to all apartments

Another "mountain" type apartment

Glass triangles apartment building

Snack! (note how big it is compared to my hand...)

  Today was another day of culture, as the only class I had was at 4:30 this afternoon. I met Taylor at noon and we went back to Assistens Cemetery, to use a ticket we had for free museum entrance. We soon found out, however, that the very small museum was only in Danish, so the poor man in charge let us wander for approximately 10 minutes before we gave up and wandered back out into the snow. Fortunately, we were armed with more ideas and a map, so we headed out into the city once more, this time back towards Kastellet, the Citadel in the north-slightly-east of Copenhagen. The snow looked so beautiful there we couldn't resist wandering through the citadel for a while (nor could we resist stopping in an adorable nearby cafe for the 3rd time this semester) before finding our way to another museum that accepted our ticket- the Danish Museum for Art and Industrial Design. It was great! After spending what feels like forever hearing about "Scandinavian design" I got to see huge amounts of collections from the famous designers who established that whole idea in the first place. Some were strange, but most were really cool.

I can't read danish...

Kastellet in the snow! 

"Reading" a Danish chair made of newspapers

A snow-topped statue of King Christian X

  Eventually, Taylor & I left and went to go meet Jen & Aaron and go to the Christiania Christmas Market, which just started today. It was really cool and very crafty, but before long we had to head back to DIS for actual classes. Fortunately, our teachers surprised us and brought pastries from La Glace, one of Copenhagen's most famous (and expensive) bakeries. Yum!

My La Glace strawberry cream puff :)

  After spending so much time wandering Copenhagen, it's off to Cologne tomorrow! Now if only I knew what to pack...

Glædelig jul fra København!

which means Merry Christmas from Copenhagen! 

The snow outside my house!

  Since it's the first of December, I believe it's officially Christmas. The house is decorated, my favorite carols are on repeat, and there's snow. lots and lots of snow. I'm currently snuggled up on a couch drinking tea, eating chocolate, and relaxing with my host parents, after two very hygge days taking full advantage of Copenhagen's christmas cheer.
  Yesterday I had no class in the afternoon, so I went with my two friends Taylor and Vicki on an exploration through the city. We began with the Christmas market in Gammeltorv, the square literally down the street from my school (bad idea). We got irish coffees to warm us up, wandered through the cute displays, and headed down Strøget, looking at all the beautifully decorated shops (okay, and maybe stopping in a few of them...) before reaching Kongens Nytorv, covered in snow and home to the Nyhavn Christmas market, which was even more beautiful.

Kongens Nytorv, with snow

Jul i Nyhavn! Me and Vicki outside the market

We found Santa!

  Despite my host dad informing me that, with wind chill, the temperature was around -4 degrees fahrenheit, aka the coldest I have ever been in my life, the three of us were determined to proceed. Copenhagen's iconic Little Mermaid statue had been in Shanghai for the entire semester, on loan to an exhibition fair, but we heard that she had returned to her spot in the Copenhagen harbor last Monday. So we faced the frigid winds (and conclusively determined that it is, in fact, much windier by the water) and found Den Lille Havfrue, as she's called in Danish. We took some pictures and retreated to a nearby cafe for tea, coffee, and scones.

Vicki, Taylor and I in front of the Little Mermaid!

Den Lille Havfrue and I

The Citadel (next to the Little Mermaid) at dusk

  After defrosting our extremities, we headed out again. Taylor and I later decided that Danes must be at least slightly masochistic to live in this environment, but I think we all embraced that mentality since we were outside for about 6 hours in total yesterday. This time, Vicki had to leave to meet her host family in the city, so Taylor and I headed out on our own to Tivoli, all decked out for Christmas. We arrived right before sundown and it was stunning. So many lights and decorations! Despite the freezing cold, we wandered through every street at least twice, looking in the little stores and wondering how people could be crazy enough to go on some of the rides in this weather. We finally gave in around 7 and went to an indoor (heated!) cafe, where we had a sumptuous dessert of hjertswaffel (heart-shaped waffles topped with soft ice and chocolate sauce), æbleskiver (kind of like a pancake puff, normally covered in powdered sugar and some kind of red berry sauce), and gløgg (hot spiced wine, normally with raisins and almond slices in the bottom). Everything was fantastic, very danish, and very hyggelig- not to mention Christmasy! 

Tivoli Christmas decorations!

Nimb in Tivoli

the Tivoli Lake

We found an igloo!

Hjertewaffel, aebleskiver, and gløgg!

  After stuffing ourselves and warming up, we headed to our respective homes, but only for about 15 hours before meeting again in Lyngby, a nice-sized town between where our two host families live. Lyngby has a very nice (albeit confusing) mall and many adorable boutiques. Taylor and I started with the mall, her getting a pair of Danish boots as an early christmas present, and me investing in a solid winter coat (windproof and hooded!) which I have sorely needed these past two days. 
  We were pretty hungry by the time we had meandered through the extravagantly decorated 'Storcenter,' so we stopped at a nearby Chicken Sandwich store for club sandwiches, soda, and french fries, all of which we ordered in Danish! Our teacher Christina would have been so proud. We then wandered around a little bit more before I had to get on the train to head back home.

with my new (hooded!) coat in front of the sandwich shop

  I got home around 2:30 to find my host mom, host dad, and host sister Maja ready to go on a cross-country skiing adventure... in our neighborhood. Literally. We walked to the end of the driveway, put on our skis, and set off. And to give this the context it deserves, I'm going to digress for a minute. I'm not exactly a winter sport person, I'm more of a watch-winter-sports-while-sitting-inside-by-a-fire-with-hot-chocolate kind of person. Blame my mom. But that's the way it is and I don't mind. Or I didn't until freshman year of college, when my roommate Carroll (the one oded to twice before) decided we should go skiing one friday on a school-sponsored trip. Since I had never been skiing before I thought it sounded great, and next thing I know, I'm on skis I have NO control of, on an icy slope in West Virginia. To sum that trip up, I return with numerous hideous and enormous bruises that take weeks to heal, a bruised ego, and the memory of accidentally skiing into a group of snowboarders. All of this was accomplished without making it to an actual slope, for which I am in fact rather proud of myself. 
  With this in mind, I was understandably nervous at the prospect of going cross-country skiing with my host family. But I had a fantastic time! I only fell 5 times (better than expected), and am nursing minor abrasions/bruises, mainly on my knees, butt, and self-esteem. But my host dad said that I did a surprisingly good job, and of course took lots of embarrassing pictures to document the occasion. I think we might even be going again this weekend! 'Tis the season, after all...

One of my 5 falls, lovingly documented by my host dad

me, my host mom Trine, and my host sister Maja!

It's hard to ski up a hill...

action shot!