Or, See you later Copenhagen, I will miss you.
Today is my very last evening in Copenhagen and Denmark. It's been an amazing, uplifting, and life changing experience, and I'm so fortunate to have been granted this opportunity.
4 months ago, I was so nervous, and I didn't want to leave home or my boyfriend. I really missed San Diego and Scott at many many points during this adventure, but each day has truly been a gift. I was given the most amazing host family anyone could ask for and I am so sad to be leaving them. They have invited me to share their family, home, and traditions and I truly love them and am so grateful for what they have allowed me to do. I will bring so many fond memories of them back with me, including drinking tea or coffee with my mom and/or sister, watching Danish TV, cooking together and eating together and sitting at the dinner table for at least an hour each night just talking, watching handball, and walking around the different castles and theme parks Copenhagen has to offer. I will miss their home and their warmth and their companionship, but I am also very excited to see my mom and dad and my brother again and to share with them all that I have learned.
I took 5 classes this semester, but 2 of them stood out particularly for me. Firstly, my core class: Children in a Multicultural Context was an eye-opening experience. I learned about the issue of immigration in homogenous Denmark and the problems and hurdles this causes children in the system, but I also learned valuable cross-cultural skills and I honestly feel as though I emerged a better, more competent person from it. I was thrust into discussions that may have been highly charged and a bit uncomfortable and my comfort zone was challenged, but I am amazed at how much I learned from my wonderful professor Maja. The second class was Danish. I may have been most nervous about this course because I heard Danish was sooo hard. I had the great fortune of being placed into a class with all girls from the Child Diversity and Development course and an incredible professor, Suzanne. If my host mom was my second mom, Suzanne was definitely my third. She made Danish so easy and taught us a lot of culture and clarified those aspects of Danish life that confused us (i.e. why they are so quiet and it is difficult to break through, hygge, etc.). She was amazing and the girls I shared that class with were similarly amazing and I will miss it all.
I met so many amazing people along this journey. I have had more friends in the past four months than I have since high school. Being at Whittier and being lonely most of my time there has made me a bit wary and jaded, I think. I was afraid I wouldn't make friends, but I was so excited to try. I met one of the best friends I had in CPH in the airport waiting for our bags, and we ended up traveling to Greece, Austria and Germany together. I love you Amanda and I miss you already!!! Through my core class I met an extraordinary group of people. I have never laughed so hard or had so much fun or had such a hyggeligt time than when we all went to that little Italian restaurant in SoHo in London then to Trafalgar Square and danced Bollywood together and saw shows. I will never forget any of you and I hate that the majority of you live on the East Coast. I will really miss you Patti, Lena, Jeff, and Trisha!! I have also met amazing people who I didn't get to spend much time with but whom I will always remember! Haley, we'll always have Ribe (and Thanksgiving at my house)! And Katie, I will miss our 1 o'clock lunches and I'm so glad we got to see Harry Potter and eat cupcakes together!! I can't imagine my life without all of you, but I guess I'll have to try, but only for a little while.
Copenhagen is a gorgeous, quiet, and relaxed little town with a lot of history and great people (just give them time to warm up to you, haha). The city and classes were great but what really made this experience for me was the people. I've spent four amazing months here and I can't believe it is over, but I think I am ready to go home. I just wish I could take CPH with me and all the people I love. This time tomorrow I'll be almost home. I can't believe it's over. It seems like I've just gotten my Danish brother and his girlfriend to open up to me and now I'm leaving. I said goodbye to them and I had to try not to cry, so I can only imagine how it will be saying goodbye to my host mom and sister tomorrow. Tomorrow will definitely be a very long and emotional day, but by the end of it I will be home with my family and my cat and my new big girl bed, and a few hours after that I will finally be seeing my boyfriend! I just have to come back and visit all the places I fell in love with and my Danish family, and visit the friends I love in the states as soon as I can!
So, as most Danes don't like to say goodbye, I will just say: Vi ses, og jeg elsker dig København! Jeg kommer til at savne alle mine venner og min fantastisk Danske familie! Ja, vi ses. <3
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Thanksgiving i Danmark og Tornerose, or Thanksgiving in Denmark and Sleeping Beauty
Hello again!
I'm in the midst of the apocalypse that is final projects month trying to get through it so I can get home, but I'm taking a break to write about the past couple weeks.
Last Thursday was Thanksgiving! So, my host mom bough some big turkey breasts, potatoes and vegetables, and took the day off so we could cook it all for the family. I also had a life-saving delivery from my friend Patti's sister who came from the US to visit, of evaporated milk and pumpkin (for pumpkin pie), and stuffing and cranberry sauce! The final menu included: turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, broccoli casserole, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie with freshly made whipped cream to top it off. It was really fun and a lot less stressful than I imagined cooking Thanksgiving would be. My friend Haley who I met on the Ribe trip a few months ago came up to eat with us and spend the night so we had a full house. Overall, everything was delicious--my host brother Rasmus actually went back for thirds! It was also really nice to have everyone there to talk to and compare cultures with. I learned a lot and I got a lot closer to my host family.
The next day, Haley and I woke up and had pumpkin pie for breakfast, then went to Kronborg Castle near my house to have a look around. My host mom had provided us with some free tickets, so we trudged through the snow to the castle and back, then we had tea and watched my favorite Danish movie - After the Wedding.
Saturday my host mom left for Berlin for 5 days. In the beginning of the semester, she had been planning to go to France, and couldn't because she had been having back problems. I admit though I felt bad, that I was the slightest bit relieved because at that time I had no idea how to cook for myself for so long. This time though, we were fine, because I now know how the oven works and where all the food is. So, Sofie and I were on our own for a few days. We made throughout that time: chicken and pasta, chicken tacos, lasagna, chicken curry, and pasta with tuna and corn. Not too glamorous as far as food goes, but we didn't starve and we were pretty proud of ourselves.
When my host mom got back this Thurs (after flight cancellations due to the record low temperatures in Germany and Denmark--coldest in 45 years in Berlin and 100 years in Denmark for this time of year) we went to the opening of the Helsingor bibliotek, which houses 2 stages, a huge library, and soon, a huge maritime museum, where we ate aebleskiver with strawberry jam and powdered sugar (yum!). Then we came home to make Christmas decorations. Before I get to that I will talk about my last day at practicum.
My paedagog Henriette wasn't there again, but I spent the say with another paedagog, Mette and her class. We danced around and watched the snow fall outside (I was so glad they had them stay inside, because Thursday was extremely cold). I helped with lunch (rye bread and toppings--smorrebrød) then played with the kids from this classroom and my normal classroom. I cuddled a lot with Vega and Monica and Tobey and drew pictures with all the kids. I'm really going to miss them!
So, Christmas decorations. A few weeks ago, my host mom had gone to Sweden with some of her friends to pick up some stuff for decorations. This means she came home with bag after bag of Swedish nature--pine branches, moss, mushrooms, pinecones, twigs, etc. Then we all sat at the kitchen table and packed pots full of clay then placed candles in them and surrounded them with a mixture of whatever nature we wanted to put in, as well as glitter, or fake snow, or tinsel, or ribbon. Mine was like this: an advent candle (a candle you burn each day before Christmas with numbers on it to count down) moss, fir branches, 2 kinds of pine cones, silver and white glitter, and a red bow. We also had more aebleskiver, a pan-fried ball of dough similar to pancakes, and tea while we listened to Christmas music and enjoyed each others' company. It was such a hyggeligt and relaxing evening, and this is definitely a Christmas tradition I will bring back with me.
Last night, I went to the ballet. It was a production of Sleeping Beauty, or Tornerose in Danish. The performance was at Der Kongens Teater in Copenhagen, near Nyhavn. It was only $10 to go, which is great, since usually they are about $40-50. I think I am not a ballet person. I thought I'd try out another one after Nutcracker, but still to no avail. I am thoroughly impressed by their skill, but it seems difficult to tell a story in that way. For example, about 20 minutes was spent by the fairies dancing to impress the King and Queen. They'd all come out, then they left, then they came out one by one, then all together again for 2 more dances. I don't know, it just seemed like an unnecessary amount of impressing. I loved the music and the costumes, and it was interesting how the prince was found - Sleeping Beauty is asleep behind a magical portrait in the museum and the 2 docents are the good and evil witches/fairies and they are constantly working against each other. I did appreciate that aspect, it was clever. I just don't know if such a simple story does so well as a ballet. I often found myself not watching the dancers, and watching the orchestra instead. So, it's not for me, but if it is for you, I think it was quite good for a ballet, though I think I prefer Nutcracker, there are more facets to that story.
Now, only 2 weeks left in Denmark before I go home. I've already begun to tackle the monster that is packing. I'm ready but I'm not. I want to go home but I'll miss my new, temporary home and my wonderful family. This is an experience that I will never get to have again, so I'm going to get as much as I can out of the time left. The next post will most likely be on my last day in Denmark, as I've got a lot to do: a 12-15 page paper, finishing up a 7 page paper, writing a journal in Danish, 2 two page papers, and spending as much time as possible with the people who have made this experience-my family and my friends.
I'm in the midst of the apocalypse that is final projects month trying to get through it so I can get home, but I'm taking a break to write about the past couple weeks.
Last Thursday was Thanksgiving! So, my host mom bough some big turkey breasts, potatoes and vegetables, and took the day off so we could cook it all for the family. I also had a life-saving delivery from my friend Patti's sister who came from the US to visit, of evaporated milk and pumpkin (for pumpkin pie), and stuffing and cranberry sauce! The final menu included: turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, broccoli casserole, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie with freshly made whipped cream to top it off. It was really fun and a lot less stressful than I imagined cooking Thanksgiving would be. My friend Haley who I met on the Ribe trip a few months ago came up to eat with us and spend the night so we had a full house. Overall, everything was delicious--my host brother Rasmus actually went back for thirds! It was also really nice to have everyone there to talk to and compare cultures with. I learned a lot and I got a lot closer to my host family.
The next day, Haley and I woke up and had pumpkin pie for breakfast, then went to Kronborg Castle near my house to have a look around. My host mom had provided us with some free tickets, so we trudged through the snow to the castle and back, then we had tea and watched my favorite Danish movie - After the Wedding.
Saturday my host mom left for Berlin for 5 days. In the beginning of the semester, she had been planning to go to France, and couldn't because she had been having back problems. I admit though I felt bad, that I was the slightest bit relieved because at that time I had no idea how to cook for myself for so long. This time though, we were fine, because I now know how the oven works and where all the food is. So, Sofie and I were on our own for a few days. We made throughout that time: chicken and pasta, chicken tacos, lasagna, chicken curry, and pasta with tuna and corn. Not too glamorous as far as food goes, but we didn't starve and we were pretty proud of ourselves.
When my host mom got back this Thurs (after flight cancellations due to the record low temperatures in Germany and Denmark--coldest in 45 years in Berlin and 100 years in Denmark for this time of year) we went to the opening of the Helsingor bibliotek, which houses 2 stages, a huge library, and soon, a huge maritime museum, where we ate aebleskiver with strawberry jam and powdered sugar (yum!). Then we came home to make Christmas decorations. Before I get to that I will talk about my last day at practicum.
My paedagog Henriette wasn't there again, but I spent the say with another paedagog, Mette and her class. We danced around and watched the snow fall outside (I was so glad they had them stay inside, because Thursday was extremely cold). I helped with lunch (rye bread and toppings--smorrebrød) then played with the kids from this classroom and my normal classroom. I cuddled a lot with Vega and Monica and Tobey and drew pictures with all the kids. I'm really going to miss them!
So, Christmas decorations. A few weeks ago, my host mom had gone to Sweden with some of her friends to pick up some stuff for decorations. This means she came home with bag after bag of Swedish nature--pine branches, moss, mushrooms, pinecones, twigs, etc. Then we all sat at the kitchen table and packed pots full of clay then placed candles in them and surrounded them with a mixture of whatever nature we wanted to put in, as well as glitter, or fake snow, or tinsel, or ribbon. Mine was like this: an advent candle (a candle you burn each day before Christmas with numbers on it to count down) moss, fir branches, 2 kinds of pine cones, silver and white glitter, and a red bow. We also had more aebleskiver, a pan-fried ball of dough similar to pancakes, and tea while we listened to Christmas music and enjoyed each others' company. It was such a hyggeligt and relaxing evening, and this is definitely a Christmas tradition I will bring back with me.
Last night, I went to the ballet. It was a production of Sleeping Beauty, or Tornerose in Danish. The performance was at Der Kongens Teater in Copenhagen, near Nyhavn. It was only $10 to go, which is great, since usually they are about $40-50. I think I am not a ballet person. I thought I'd try out another one after Nutcracker, but still to no avail. I am thoroughly impressed by their skill, but it seems difficult to tell a story in that way. For example, about 20 minutes was spent by the fairies dancing to impress the King and Queen. They'd all come out, then they left, then they came out one by one, then all together again for 2 more dances. I don't know, it just seemed like an unnecessary amount of impressing. I loved the music and the costumes, and it was interesting how the prince was found - Sleeping Beauty is asleep behind a magical portrait in the museum and the 2 docents are the good and evil witches/fairies and they are constantly working against each other. I did appreciate that aspect, it was clever. I just don't know if such a simple story does so well as a ballet. I often found myself not watching the dancers, and watching the orchestra instead. So, it's not for me, but if it is for you, I think it was quite good for a ballet, though I think I prefer Nutcracker, there are more facets to that story.
Now, only 2 weeks left in Denmark before I go home. I've already begun to tackle the monster that is packing. I'm ready but I'm not. I want to go home but I'll miss my new, temporary home and my wonderful family. This is an experience that I will never get to have again, so I'm going to get as much as I can out of the time left. The next post will most likely be on my last day in Denmark, as I've got a lot to do: a 12-15 page paper, finishing up a 7 page paper, writing a journal in Danish, 2 two page papers, and spending as much time as possible with the people who have made this experience-my family and my friends.
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