GOOD STUFF let me tell you. Anyhoozle, I think I’ll be wrapping this up (my LAST blog post) because today I’m going to pick out a Christmas tree for the second time this season.

Yes you read that right–I won’t be continuing this blog any longer, mostly because my life at home is not nearly as interesting as my life in Copenhagen, and I’m not sure anybody wants to read about how I sat around and watched TV then took my dog for a walk. Still, I have really enjoyed blogging about all the food that I encountered on my travels these past four months, and it’s possible I may continue that in one fashion or another. If it actually happens (read: it would be a Christmas miracle if I managed to do anything productive over this break) I’ll be sure to post a link here.

In any case, I guess this is hej hej for now. Thanks for reading about my adventures–I hope you didn’t mind my lazy food ramblings too much. And for all you DIS prospectives/future students out there (or anybody else who’s curious I suppose), please continue to feel free to ask me any questions about my experience in Denmark. I really truly enjoyed this semester, and I would highly recommend DIS to anybody who’s considering it!

This Semester I Learned:

• To actually enjoy tea.
• How to speak Danish (not really) and understand it (just listen for key words)
• How much I really do LOVE eating.
• The procrastination fairy exists all over the world.
• How to eat with a knife and fork and not look like a 3 year old (now I eat more like a 9 year old).
• To love candles (never mind the fire hazard).
• How to make proper smørrebrød
• How to use Danish kroner (though I may have forgotten how American money works…)
• What I’ll probably do for my career/life (kind of important)
• How much I love Europe (and how to travel around it by myself)
• The importance of hygge

Jeg vil savner (I will miss): 

• My favoritest host family (and my bestest host dog!) <3
• Wienerbrød
• Home-cooked Danish food
• Danish 7/11s
• My commute (and seeing Frederiksborg Castle every day!)
• Candles/hygge
• Tea, cookies, and candy every night
• Danish fashion and shopping (so many sweaters!)
• DIS friends–Why won’t you all just move to Minnesota?
• Being a short  plane ride away from anywhere in Europe
• Hearing Danish everywhere I go
• Being a short walk away from hundreds of years of history and culture

I’m looking forward to:

• Eating Mexican/Thai/Indian/Japanese/Chinese/Vietnamese/all non-European food
• “Cheap” not being defined as under 100 kr.
• SLEEPING ALL DAY EVERY DAY
• Seeing my sister and my doggy!
• Driving my car!
• SO MUCH BUBBLE TEA
• Being able to understand people around me
• Seeing Carleton people again! (and returning to Carleton academics…)
• Giving everybody all their European gifts
• Regressing to my baggy sweatpants self (but also bringing a little Danish fashion back home)

Obviously all those lists could go on forever, but that’s a brief summary for you. If you couldn’t tell, I’m pretty conflicted about all this–on the one hand, there’s so much to look forward to about going home, but there’s also so much that will be missing in my life once I leave Denmark. Luckily, I still have one more day to see a couple last friends, eat my last morsels of Danish food, and have one last hyggeligt dinner with my host family (or rather, Charlotte and Cille). Above all, it’s my host family that has really made this experience as great as it was, and I can’t thank them enough for everything they’ve done for me. This has truly been an amazing semester, and I am SO glad I chose to come to DIS.

Speaking of, last Saturday we all went to Tivoli together (and met up with Kenneth, friend of the family and owner of Oswald–pronounced OSS-vel–cutest dog ever). We took the train so we wouldn’t have to pay for parking, which made for a pretty funny switching of roles. Usually it’s my host family showing me around and telling me how to do things, but since they rarely take the train or go into Copenhagen at all, it was me and Nanna showing everybody how to do it. It was nice to know that I’ve learned at least one useful thing these past four months.

We started out by going to Nyhavn, which is the canal area you will always see if you look up photos of Copenhagen. Despite its fame, it’s actually pretty small, and even my host family was surprised when we reached the end of the Christmas market there after only about 10 stalls. We then headed over along Strøget towards Tivoli. It was pretty weird being in the area I walk around all the time with my DIS friends, but with my host family. We stopped in some of the shops along the way to look at the Christmas sales, but unfortunately all the cafes we checked had no free tables. So instead we went to a cafe when we first got into Tivoli to have gløgg (mulled wine with raisins and almonds) and æbleskiver (the Danish pancake balls)–very typical Danish Christmastime fare. It was pretty cold outside, so we all enjoyed the chance to warm up a bit and chat for a while.

Tivoli itself was a whole different place (compared to the last time I went). It was covered in lights and decorations (Russian Christmas theme this year) and filled with Christmas market stalls. We wandered around to see all the pretty decorations and stopped to shop at a few of the stalls, including one making fresh flødeboller! We bought 2 boxes–white chocolate and coffee flavors. Yum yum. After we made it around most of the park once, everybody was cold, especially Cille, so we decided to head home for an ordered pizza dinner.

according to my host mom, the swans are because of the "ugly duckling" story

The pizza was actually an interesting experience in and of itself. We stopped on the way home to pick it up, and we each got to pick out our own. There were some really interesting topping choices, including shawarma, lettuce, and dressing. I ended up getting one with gorgonzola (one of their main cheese options), onions, ham, and bacon. It was not a typical pizza by American standards, but it was actually pretty tasty.

On Sunday, I had a relaxing morning of sleeping, watching TV, and cleaning my room up a bit before Shuyao arrived for a sleepover! Originally both Mariya and Shuyao were going to come, but Mariya had a 12 page paper due Tuesday for her class at København University, so she had to stay home and work. My host dad left that afternoon for a business trip (and won’t be back before I leave, so  had to say goodbye–so sad!), so it was a girls-only evening. Charlotte’s good friend Christina came over for dinner, for which we had a traditional Danish meal. I don’t know what the Danish name for it was, but it was basically like brisket with mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans. Yum yum yum. For dessert, we had gløgg and æbleskiver and had an interesting conversation about politics. Then Shuyao and I watched Love Actually, a Christmas classic, with cookies and milk before falling asleep for a lovely 9 hours. It was really fun to have another friend over to visit with my host family, and the whole evening was quite hyggeligt.

The next morning Shuyao and I walked around the outside of Frederiksborg and the Baroque Gardens before she caught the bus to the train station. When we parted ways, I headed down Hillerød’s own Strøget to do a bit of shopping. Though I was supposed to be Christmas shopping, I ended up buying some things for myself. Oops? Still, I was able to cross a few things off my list, and I had a great time doing it. It was also just fun to hang out in my own town and being able to walk home at the end of the day instead of worrying about bus and train schedules. It made me wish I’d spent a little more time in Hillerød this semester just exploring rather than always heading into Copenhagen at every chance.

Yesterday (Tuesday), I met Elise in Copenhagen around 1pm to do some more shopping. It was a pretty gross day out, with plenty of wind and rain to go around, so we tried to stay inside as much as possible. We walked all the way down Strøget, popping in shops along the way, and Elise found a circle scarf while I finished off the last of my Christmas list. Midway through our excursion, we stopped at Agnes Cupcakes for a delicious $6 treat that was so worth the extra money.

That night, I went to Lacey’s house again for one last farewell dinner. We had spaghetti with cookies I brought for dessert, and I was able to give Frida (her little host sister) a photo of me for her Vennerbog that I filled out last time. It was very hyggeligt, and we watched the Danish Christmas calendar show together. Apparently every December one of the networks puts on a miniseries that runs every night in December. It continues about a half an hour every night until Christmas. There are at least a couple different shows–one for small children, this year about elves in Greenland, and one for older children about kids living in a castle with ghosts. It seems most  Danish families keep up with the shows, so I’ve seen both from time to time, but have not really followed the plot very closely (plus it’s a bit difficult for me to know what’s going on, seeing as it’s in Danish).

It’s been so weird saying goodbye to people–so far I have had to say a (probably) final goodbye to Elise, Lacey, Lauren, Matt, my host dad of course, and possibly Shuyao if I do not see her again tomorrow.  I really cannot believe I am leaving Saturday–a couple nights ago Charlotte asked me about my flight times so we could plan when we’d leave for the airport, and I got freaked out for a second as I was forced out of my denial, before slowly shoving that thought back into the back of my head. Even though I’ve started packing now (and it looks like my bags will be underweight yay!), there’s some huge part of me that really just thinks this is all made up, and I’ll go back to classes any day now.

Classes:

Danish Language and Culture: This, in my opinion, is a must-take class if you’re doing DIS. Even if you’re not “good at languages” and, like most everybody else, will not be using Danish after our semester abroad. Taking this class really helped me understand a lot more of what was going on around me, both at home with my host family and out in the city (especially on the trains, where the announcements are all in Danish!). Don’t get me wrong–I definitely do not speak or understand Danish fluently, or even at all. But I was surprised by how much my limited knowledge has helped me to not be totally lost. Plus half of the class is culture, which is definitely helpful, especially if you are not in a host family learning about Danish customs and eating Danish food. You learn a lot about Danish history and discuss the reasons behind Danish norms that might help you understand why Danes do what they do. If all that didn’t sell you, the Danish classes also do some fun activities, such as movie days, eating traditional Danish food, and going to a Danish football game sometime during the semester. There’s also an intensive Danish I-II version if you want to focus more on the language and less on the cultural aspects.

Positive Psychology: This was my core class, so we went on a short study tour to Western Denmark and a long one to Milan. There were 4 sections of this class this semester, and we all went to different places (others went to Madrid and Scotland on their long tours). Each class had a different focus as well–mine ended up mainly being about life coaching, since that was the profession of our teacher. It was definitely an interesting focus, since we got to try out a lot of positive psychology interventions in class, and even created one ourselves and used it at the end of our long study tour. I won’t lie–getting to class at 8:30am twice a week was quite a struggle, especially when it meant leaving the house before dawn towards the end. However, when you travel as a class, you get to bond a lot, and I really enjoyed getting to know my classmates over the course of the semester. Plus our study tours, especially the one to Milan, were really fun and educational, and we got to talk to some of the most important researchers in the field right now.

European Clinical Psychology: This class is going to be a core class starting next semester, which I think will be excellent. I really enjoyed this class–it was a bit of both abnormality and clinical psych this term because there was no particular abnormality prerequisites, but I think that will be changed in the future. We did a lot of different exercises in class to learn in different ways (rather than just listening to lectures). I especially liked our field study to a social clinic for those with mental disorders, and a couple guest lectures we had from a friend of our teacher, who is a psychologist works with cancer patients. The core class won’t have the same teacher we had this semester, but she is working closely with the new teacher to revise the class (because this term was the first time DIS had it) and make it even better for next term. I provided a link above to information on the new core class, but I know that they’ll be having a long study tour to Vienna to study Freud.

Adolescence in Northern Europe: This class was also in its first semester, so there were a few kinks that I think will be worked out in the future. Despite some organizational issues, I really enjoyed this class and I think with some minor tweaks it’ll be really interesting in the future. It was a more free-form style so rather than learning in a traditional fashion we had the opportunity to help decide what we would learn about and our teacher gave us a lot of choices about how to complete our different requirements. Of course, that style is certainly not for everyone, but I thought it was a nice break from the usual lecture-style. One of my favorite parts of this class was our field studies to different youth-oriented organizations, and our learning lab, which gave us the chance to go on our own to a site of our choice.  We learned a lot more through these hands-on experiences than we would’ve by reading a textbook, and it was really cool to take advantage of the opportunities provided by our location in Europe.

Applied Psychology: This was definitely my favorite class this semester. We basically learned about different kinds of therapy, and got the chance to practice using the therapeutic techniques of all the different schools. My own school doesn’t have a class like this, so it was a great opportunity for me to learn more about what I think might be my future career. We also had some really interesting visits from a music therapist and a psychologist working with brain-injury survivors, plus our teacher talked about her own experiences as a therapist, so we had a few different perspectives on what it’s like to do therapy. The class also explored the theme of creativity in therapy, and it definitely changed the way I think about creativity in myself and others.

Turkey at the Crossroads: This was a 1-credit class to go on an optional study tour to Istanbul during the second week of travel break. It was taught by the same teacher as my Adolescence in Northern Europe class, so it was fun to get to know her a little better. The tour itself was amazing–Istanbul is a beautiful city and we got to see a lot of amazing history (and eat some delicious food!). It was also such a relief to travel with DIS the second week of travel break rather than having to organize the whole thing by myself.  Taking a class along with the trip also gave us the chance to see a different side of Istanbul, and to know what was going on around us rather than just being regular tourists.

Housing:

Host Family: Obviously my favorite option! I loved my host family this term, and I wholeheartedly recommend this option. Not only do you get to really immerse yourself in Danish culture (including home-cooked meals–OM NOM NOM), but you get to bond with a family, and have a real solid support if you have a bad day. My host family is definitely what I’m going to miss most about Denmark (I can’t believe I have to leave them so soon!). And I’ve not only had my immediate host family, but I’ve gotten to participate in family events from baptisms to birthdays, and gotten to meet lots of extended family members and friends (just read about my Danish Thanksgiving for an example). I loved coming back home after a long day at school to a hyggeligt dinner followed by tea and cookies in front of the television. Plus there’s nothing like having a host dog greet you excitedly every morning and evening. Of course, the nature and size of host families differs a lot, so be sure to be specific about your needs on the DIS Housing form. Commutes also differ greatly–mine was about an hour or so door-to-door, but I know of commutes both longer and shorter.

Kollegium: Kollegiums are kind of like the Danish version of dorms, although they are not associated with any particular school. I didn’t know that many people living in kollegiums this term, but I know of people who really loved theirs and others who were not as happy. The key to kollegiums, I think, is being willing to put yourself out there to meet the other people living on your floor because Danes are not likely to leave their doors open or do any of the things Americans usually do to make friends. However, it’s definitely possible to bond with both the Danes and Americans on a kollegium floor, and I know of several kollegium groups that got quite close over the semester. The other difference with a kollegium is you have to cook your own food, so you get a meal stipend from DIS, but my impression is that that money does not cover everything, so you may have to be prepared to spend a bit on food. As for commutes,   kollegiums tend to be within a closer range than host families (which are all over). Generally I haven’t heard of any kollegiums more than 20 min. away from DIS but I could be wrong.  A lot of kollegium people are able to take the bus or the metro (rather than the train) into DIS.

Danish Roommate: I think this is one of the less common options, so I only knew a couple people who chose it, but they were both pretty happy. Like host families, roommates vary a lot, so you could have another Dane your age, or you could be living with a single mom (for example). In general, I think it’s kind of like a host family option, but provides more independence because you make your own food and you aren’t expected to do anything more than be a respectful roommate (rather than participating in family events etc). This also means you might have to make more of an effort to get to know your roommate, if you want to become friends with them (rather than just two people who happen to live together). Danish roommates also live closer to DIS though I don’t know enough people with this option to say for sure how far out you could end up. Generally though the “roommate” thing implies apartment, which means somewhere in the city rather than outside it.

Folkehøjskole: I have heard a lot of good things about this option. Basically it’s like a boarding school for young people to go for about a year, in which they explore their interests without grades or requirements–they do it just for the love of learning. You can read more about it on the DIS website, but basically the DIS students who live at these schools have rooms at the school, and get provided breakfast and dinner (but the meals are provided on a schedule, and thus DIS students may often miss a meal or two and have to find food on their own). There is a folkehøjskole in Hillerød fairly close to my house, so I ride the bus with the DIS students there fairly often. This option is a really great way to meet Danes your age (or international students if you are in an international one) because the students have a fair amount of free time and do a lot of events together. Thus, it’s a bit more of a tight community than a kollegium, although the commute is always fairly long (none of the folkehøjskoles are located in central Copenhagen)–usually at least an hour.

DIS Residential Community / Living & Learning: These two options are basically American-only living situations (minus a Danish SRA–sort of like an RA in the U.S.) provided by DIS. Most of them are located about 5 minutes walk from DIS, although I do know of one which is slightly further away (maybe a 15-20 min. commute). Though I have never visited one, I’ve heard the housing is really nice, although it does mean that you are not automatically immersed in Danish culture, and will have to make more of an effort to meet Danes. Like the kollegium, you must pay for your own food with a DIS stipend card.

The Living and Learning Communities are mostly like DIS Residential Communities, but they are also responsible for holding events and being actively engaged in the topic of their housing (right now there is the Green House and the Culinary House). The Green House, for example, put on a sustainable party at the end of the semester.

Of course, you can also always find your own housing (some people do this if they have family in Copenhagen), but most people choose one of these options.

So that’s all folks (for tonight). More fun updates coming soon, I promise. In the meantime, don’t forget to ask me if you have any questions about the stuff above, or anything else Denmark/DIS-related.

On Wednesday, I got to hang out with Audrey! We met first thing in the morning at her hotel to begin our day exploring Copenhagen. First we went over to Nyhavn and walked up to the Little Mermaid along the water. It was my first time seeing the Little Mermaid (yes I know that’s pretty sad) so it was nice to finally cross that off my list! We also happened upon the changing of the guard at Amalienborg as we walked back toward the center of town, and then we went over to Sankt Peder’s Bageri for a pastry. Nummy.

After our delicious snack, we headed over to the Nationalmuseet, another important tourist destination I had not yet visited. The museum is actually huge, and we only saw a small portion of it, so I’ll be back this coming week (there’s free admission every Wednesday).

Look who we found in the ancient Greece section!

By this time it was pretty gross outside–some combination of rain and hail and wind–so we went over to DIS so I could show Audrey where I spend my time, and also to warm up/catch up on each other’s lives (though I think we mostly ended up talking about Harry Potter…). It was so nice to see her again (since we hadn’t talked since high school) but at 6:30 it was time for me to go off to the Nutcracker, while Audrey went to see Tivoli.

Allie and I signed up for the Nutcracker together, so we met up and stopped at China Box for a quick bite before heading over to the Royal Theater. It was a DIS event, so we’d gotten our tickets for significantly less than the regular price. We got handed tickets that seemed like they would be together (16 and 17), bought some snacks at concessions, and went to find our spots. When we got there, however, we found out that 16 and 17 were actually on different sides of the row because the odd and even numbers were separated. So to avoid stealing somebody else’s seat, I went over to 17 by myself. Luckily, as other DIS students arrived, it turned out that two girls from our Turkey class, Gilli and Kelsey, were in the same situation as Allie and I because they had seats 14 and 15. So we pulled a swapsies and everybody was happy. Sometimes things just work out so well! The show itself was really good, though I didn’t have a lot to compare it to since I haven’t been to see the Nutcracker since I was about 9 years old. Unfortunately, the Queen was not in attendance that night, so I still have not seen her, despite the fact that she walks around freely without security or anything.

just seeing the theater itself was worth the price

After the show, Allie and I met Lauren and Matt for a NORTH SHIELD REUNION. We originally planned to go to the Dubliner, an Irish pub on Strøget (I know Irish is not the same as Scottish but it was the closest we could get) but that was filled with football fans, so instead we headed over to an adorable cafe/bar called Cafe Retro that Lauren and Matt had recently discovered. It was a super local, non-profit cafe with comfy chairs (including some really cool hammock chairs) and no big beer companies like Carlsberg. They have a back room that’s a bit quieter and more private that we claimed, and we had a super cozy evening.

On Thursday I was up somewhat early again to meet Audrey, this time in Hillerød. I showed her my castle and gardens (yes, Fredriksborg belongs to me now), and a bit of Hillerød’s own Strøget. Once we couldn’t stay in the cold any longer, we walked back to my house where we made Christmas cookies with Charlotte and Nanna. It was super fun and hyggeligt, and really nice to be able to share my host family with somebody from home.

just walking around my neighborhood. nbd.

Friday was my last day of school-related activities. I had my final test for European Clinical Psychology, and it was wonderful to finally be officially DONE! However, it makes it all the more real that I’m leaving soon and I’ve got to enjoy every minute I have left! To that end, I went ice skating with Elise, Shuyao, Mariya, Scarlet, and everybody else who signed up for the DIS event. There was a bit of doubt if the event would still happen since it’d been raining on and off all day. But the rink was still open, and everybody voted to try it, and it ended up being really fun! The rink had hockey skates, which was good for me because I play ice hockey (though not very well) at Carleton, and I think I would’ve tripped over figure skates. It was really good to get back on the ice after not playing for about 10 months–I’m really excited to get back to hockey in January.

After ice skating, the event organizers treated us all to a hot drink because we didn’t get quite as much time on the ice as the event had originally said. I had some super yummy hot chocolate. Then Mariya, Shuyao, Scarlet, and I were still hungry (or mostly we just wanted to eat stuff) so we headed over to Central Station where we got some noodles at YamYam. Then we met up with Mariya’s friend Olivia and went out for some drinks (all of us except Scarlet, who had to head home). It was really nice to hang out with my travel buds again, and to finally meet Olivia, who we’d heard a lot about from Mariya. I ended up not getting home until about 3am, but it was definitely worth it.

Anyway, I had such a fun couple of days, and I’m only going to have more! Another update coming soon, but today I went to Tivoli with my host family, and tomorrow Mariya and Shuyao are coming over for dinner and a sleepover! Then I’m going to Lacey’s for dinner on Tuesday, Nationalmuseet on Wednesday, shopping sometime, and starting to pack for my trip home! It’s all going by so fast, but I’m determined to get as much out of the next week as I possibly can.

Don’t forget to ask me questions if you’ve got any! I know way more about DIS than I probably should because I got really excited before coming here… or if you have questions about Denmark or whatever. Either comment on a post or send me an email or something and I’d be happy to respond to whatever you’re wondering about!

Hej hej for now!

And here’s the video:

Saturday was my host farfar, Eric’s (Søren’s dad) 70th birthday party. In the afternoon, my host mormor (Charlotte’s mom) came over from Jylland (Jutland) with her husband for lunch. We all went to the party around 5pm to be early because it started at 6pm. The first part of the party began as all Danish get-togethers do: lots of handshakes and introductions. In Denmark, you’re supposed to say hello and goodbye to each person individually, even if there are 50 people in attendance at a gathering, like there were on Saturday. Charlotte informs me that this is why it’s important to be early (so you can stand around while others come and say hello to you, rather than having to make a tour around the room). After probably about half an hour, we were lead to our seats by our table leaders. I was sitting with Charlotte, which was nice because she tried to give me some idea of what was going on with all the toasts and songs and such. And there were a lot of toasts and songs and such. At Danish birthday parties, it’s customary to write songs for the person of honor and have everybody sing them. So throughout the meal we were constantly being stopped and handed a set of lyrics or listening to a toast or something. And this was not a short dinner. We had a few different courses–appetizers, main course in the form of a buffet, fruits and cheese, cake (a special Serbian cake made as a present by one of Eric’s friends), coffee, more drinks, and finally a “go home” meal of sandwiches around 2am. Apparently this was a “short” party because most of the guests were elderly and could not stay out for dancing. It was really fun though, and I enjoyed getting to experience such a Danish tradition.

On Sunday, I attended another quintessential Danish event–a fodbold (i.e. football, i.e. soccer) game! This was an event done by DIS for all students in Danish classes, as well as those lucky enough to buy the extra subsidized tickets DIS provided before they sold out. The game was FCK (FC København) vs. AGF (Århus GF?). Obviously most people were rooting for FCK but AGF is Charlotte’s favorite team, so I had to stay loyal, obviously. I was a bit worried about finding my way to the stadium at first, but on the way I ran into several other DIS students waiting for the bus. Of course, when the bus finally showed up, it let about 2 people (out of maybe 15) on and then drove off. So we decided to walk. Luckily it was not that far, and it turned out to not be a super popular game, so there were plenty of seats left. I found Shuyao and Michelle amidst the crowd and settled in for what I thought would be a long game. But it actually went really quickly. Obviously all soccer games are basically the same length, but I think I’m just used to watching baseball games with tons of standing around and extra innings. Of course, I had to get a hot dog and a Carlsberg to complete the experience, and Shuyao also bought some popcorn that I had a significant portion of. All in all, it was a fun time, though slightly disappointing since neither team scored at all. The fans were super intense though. At the beginning both sides had flares and then there was an FCK cheering section that was bellowing organized cheers and bouncing in time a bunch. So that was fun to see.

Monday we had our last Danish class! It turned out to be really fun because our teacher Ditte Marie brought in her daughter, Amanda, and some Christmas treats for us. First we enjoyed some Christmas cookies and æbleskiver–basically like little pancake balls. Traditionally they have apple slices in them (hence the “æble”) but now you can just get them frozen and they don’t come with the apple. Apparently you can also get them at Trader Joe’s in the U.S., so I’ll be on the lookout when I get home. Then we had a Christmas decorating competition (kind of a mix between Danish and American cultures because Danes would never compete like that–everybody has to be equal). Our team was the smallest, and we also did not get any help from Amanda, so our table ended up looking a bit sad. Still, it was lots of fun, and I managed to make a Christmas star all by myself (you can see it on top of our “tree”). Needless to say, we did not win…

Which brings me to TODAY. A lovely day, if I do say so myself. I began leisurely, since I finished Positive Psychology last week. We got treats in both my European Clinical Psychology and my Adolescence in Northern Europe classes–no complaints there. The highlight of the day by far was my dinner at Den Tatoverede Enke as a reward for being a blogger this semester! It was super fancy, with three different courses and a beer especially paired with each one–definitely something I would not have paid for myself, but such a wonderful and hyggeligt experience! I took pictures of all the food and beer (unsurprising if you’ve been following this blog at all). It was fun because I didn’t know most of the people in attendance that well, and I got to chat with a variety of people including other bloggers, videographers for DIS, and one of the Architecture and Design interns. Additionally, they announced the Blogger of the Year, which was Perri VanderClock. She has a great blog you can read here (or it’s also on the DIS Blogger page). As a prize for all the bloggers, we also got super pretty customized Moleskine notebooks with our names imprinted onto the cover, so that was pretty cool (I am a big fan of Moleskine and was actually about to buy a new one for myself! Good thing I waited…).

two kinds of bread with herb butter and a Danish beer with a bit of spice

this was the second beer (same as bottle above). had an orange flavor to be well-paired with the duck.

duck confit with red cabbage, parsnip puree, a potato, and i think some apple sauce or something. it was exquisite.

panna cotta with almond. basically a play on risalamande, with all the ingredients separated and in a different form. sooo tasty.

this was the beer paired with our dessert... it was made from cherries and tasted sweet and not very beer-like. meant to be the "cherry sauce" for the risalamande theme.

So anyway I have to wrap this up because I am waking up early tomorrow, not to go to class, but to go exploring around Copenhagen! My high school friend Audrey who now goes to University of Edinburgh is visiting on her way home for break. She’ll be my first (and only) visitor in Copenhagen, so I’m really excited. We’re gonna go to Nyhavn, Sankt Peders Bageri, and a museum or two. On Thursday she’s coming up to Hillerød to see Frederiksborg and to meet my host family! Basically, this week is awesome, and I never want to leave Copenhagen!

Just about a week ago when I was in the midst of work, I thought I was prepared to leave, but now that I have time to spend I am starting to realize (for the bajillionth time) that I’m going to miss all of this sooo much! It’s absolutely INSANE that I only have a week and a half left here, and I’m already freaking out a bit. There’s so much to see and eat and shop for! At least I have finally gotten myself a big fatty circle scarf, which is an absolute staple in Danish fashion (it actually took me like 3 days to decide which one I wanted, which Lacey has not stopped making fun of me for, and I am in love with it because it is so cozy!). While I’m excited to show that and other Danish traditions to people at home and at school, I cannot believe I’m not returning here in the immediate future! I guess I’ll just have to soak it up as much as I can, but I don’t think anything will prepare me to leave this country and the people I have grown to love so much over the past 4 months. It’s funny to look back at my first few days here, when I couldn’t believe I’d be staying here for 4 full months. Now I can’t believe I’m not living here forever!

Amsterdam:

stroopwafel... two layers of wafel cookie with mapley syrupy stuff inside. so addicting.

Allie and I were both pretty tired post-Thanksgiving and we also were in different stages of colds so we decided from the get-go that we wanted a pretty relaxed weekend… i.e. we definitely went home at like 9pm every night. Still, it was a really fun weekend, and I loved our approach to it. We got to stay with my dad’s old friend Carole, who has been living in Amsterdam for the past 4 years. She was kind enough to let us crash in her loft a few floors up from her apartment, which was located right on a canal on the edge of the city center. Perfect. Not only did we get a cozy living space all to ourselves with convenient access to the city, but she also fed us breakfast and Dutch goodies, like stroopwafels (pictured above on the right). Yummy!

so pleased about my life choices

After settling in on our first day, we just spent the evening wandering around the surprisingly small city center. We found out later that we’d been wandering in the Red Light District (I think all the coffee shops and passing the Sex Museum should probably have given us a hint). First we stopped and got some of the famous Dutch frites; I had mayo and onions on mine–DELICIOUS. Then we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant (to get the authentic Dutch experience, obviously). We had a lovely time chatting over dinner, and talked for over two hours after the waiter cleared our plates until we found out that we really had to ask for the check in order to get it! Obviously we got dessert as well, and I sprung for a fancy schmancy apple strudel.

We began Saturday morning with breakfast and tea with Carole. We got to chat with her about her experiences living in Europe, and I updated her on my dad’s happenings. Then Allie and I headed out for a day of exploring, which included the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank House. Luckily Carole warned us to buy our tickets online ahead of time, so we didn’t have to wait in any lines! We also were able to walk around the whole time (rather than taking public transit) because everything in Amsterdam is surprisingly close. Of course, we also found the flower market and some cheese shops along the way. I may or may not have bought a cheese wheel and some balsamic mustard… (after trying all twenty of the samples in the store, obviously).

on the way into town, we walked right past the zoo, which is apparently "the 2nd most popular destination in town." I wonder what is the first?

one of my many, many canal pictures...

I was in heaven...

I enjoyed the Van Gogh Museum a lot. It was a good size (fairly small) and very well organized, so you could follow his life while seeing the progression of his artwork.

can't go to Amsterdam without this picture, even if there are strangers awkwardly in your photo...

our lunch was one of my favorite meals. it began with these...

I couldn't resist the raspberry juice... soooo yummy

I had a whole wheat bagel with sun-dried tomato cream cheese and olive tapenade with sun-dried tomatoes. Definitely a trip highlight.

Amsterdam had even more bikes than Copenhagen--a feat I didn't think was possible.

we stopped for some delicious hot chocolate before our evening reservation at the Anne Frank Huis... so hard to resist getting a second.

The Anne Frank Huis was a really well-done museum, and a really powerful experience. We paid a few extra Euro for an introduction in English, so we would know a bit more about what we were seeing. It was just crazy to know what people had gone through exactly where we were standing many years before.

For dinner that night we had Italian (we really immersed ourselves in the Dutch culture…). Then we went home early, grabbing some Turkish rice pudding along the way (missing Istanbul already!). Snuggled up in our loft, we each read our respective books (Harry Potter in French for me and Breaking Dawn for Allie, which she found in the loft). It was really a great end to a lovely weekend. Sunday morning, we slept in and ate a late breakfast, still reading. The weather was pretty windy and rainy, so it was just as well that we decided to stay in. We headed to the airport around noon, where me and Allie had different flights because of a sudden price-change midway through our booking. Just as I was about to get settled at my gate, C9, I found out that it had changed, and had to go all the way to D58. Then the plane was a bit delayed because the crew had gone to C9. I thought I was done with travel issues, but Copenhagen had other things in mind for me.

When we were about to land, there was a windstorm going on (unbeknownst to me) and the plane was experiencing a lot of turbulence. In fact, when we went down for landing the first time, the plane was tipping back and forth, and the pilot decided to pull back up and try again. Not exactly confidence-inspiring. However, when we went around and tried again the plane landed successfully and everybody applauded. Again, I thought finally I could have a smooth trip the rest of the way home. Again, I was mistaken.

I made the train successfully and settled in, excited to see my host family again. The train was shaking a bit, but I didn’t particularly notice until the train stopped and the driver gave a couple of longer-than-usual announcements. I heard the girl sitting across from me (who was talking on the phone) say in Danish, “The train’s only going to Birkerød,” and sure enough, the list of stops changed and Birkerød (two stops and about 15 min. before my own) became the end of the line. I thought I heard something about a bus that would take us the rest of the way (the announcements are all in Danish, so I only understand key words). So I was feeling okay about piling off the train, and prepared to wait for the bus. There was no bus immediately though, and many of the other people were catching taxis so I started to get a bit worried. After a few minutes of waiting, checking rejseplanen.dk in the station’s computer to see if there was a bus that could take me closer to Hillerød, and watching to see what other people were doing, I eventually called Søren to ask for a ride. Of course, once he was about 10 min. away, the bus finally came, but by that time it was easier to just wait for him.

On the way home, he told me that the wind storm (which I’d noticed by then after being blown around by the wind) had apparently caused a tree to fall on the track, which is what caused my train to stop. Apparently the train that encountered the tree falling (which could not have been more than one or two trains before mine because our train driver only discovered it halfway through the ride–good thing my plane was delayed!) had to stay put for several hours because they were worried about the danger of electrical shock. Of course, Søren also told me that you were supposed to avoid driving as much as possible, and I saw why as the car got pushed a foot or so over every few minutes as we were driving home–not exactly a relaxing ride. When I finally got home, I checked the weather and apparently the wind was gusting up to 60mph, and in some parts of Denmark it was hurricane-level wind. So in other words pretty serious storm.

Luckily by the next day my train was all fixed up and everything was normal again (definitely not something that would happen in the U.S.). Overall, our trip was really fun (even if it had a bit of a hectic ending), and I was really proud of myself for packing only my backpack! I know it’s not a terribly impressive feat for a weekend trip, but I feel like all this independent traveling has made me a more efficient traveler and packer, and I just feel like I’ve gotten better at the whole process.

Other happenings this week:

Det Frie Gymnasium! For my Adolescence in Northern Europe class, we had to complete a learning lab, in which we visited a site to see Danish adolescents in person and use the experience to answer our research questions. My group visited Det Frie Gymnasium, or “The Free Gymnasium”, a Danish high school (or the equivalent) in Copenhagen. The school is known for being super democratic, so the students are involved in all official decisions, from what the cafeteria serves to what to do with the new building the school has acquired. We talked to a girl named Anna, who is family friends with my teacher. She gave us a tour of the school (which is covered in graffiti because the students voted that they should be able to paint wherever they wanted, except on chairs of course). The students are on an equal level with teachers, and are able to question what they’re learning and have some say in the way they are taught (though of course they have to complete a certain curriculum, and in subjects like math there aren’t very many ways to teach the material). It was really cool to see such a different school environment and talk to some Danish teens in person. It definitely tied together a lot of things we’d been discussing in class, and was a really unique opportunity.

SO MUCH HOMEWORK. Three presentations and two papers, to be exact. Hence the reason I haven’t been blogging all week. But I’m close to being done (two papers and two tests left), and soon I will just be enjoying my last two weeks in Denmark . Wow it is weird to type that. While I’m getting even more excited to go back to the U.S., I’m also really enjoying Christmas season in Denmark at the moment… Charlotte hung a little bag (sort of like a stocking) on each of our doors, and she has been giving us little gifts (I mean the Nisse–the Danish gift-giving elves that supposedly live in your house). I got an advent calendar and some little Danish cookies. The advent calendar has definitely been helping my motivation… It’s a lot easier to get out of bed when you know you get a surprise chocolate candy!

Tomorrow is my first Danish birthday party, and it will be a 50 person affair. More specifically, it’s my host farfar’s (grandpa) 70th birthday. Danes go all out for birthdays, so I’m sure this will be pretty epic, and definitely will last late into the night. Then on Sunday I’m going to an FCK (the Copenhagen “football” team) game with all the Danish classes. Should be a really fun weekend, but I’ve also got to write an essay and study for a final sometime in there. We’ll see how that goes…

Happy holidays from Hillerød!

While you wait, read about some of the Danish Christmas traditions currently underway:

http://www.visitdenmark.dk/uk/en-gb/menu/turist/inspiration/jul/danish-christmas-traditions.htm

http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/knowledgesafety/qt/xmasdenmark.htm

Thanksgiving was fantabulous. I was pretty stressed about it, because we were cooking for seventeen people and neither me nor Charlotte had made most of the foods on the menu. We did it though! And by we, I mean mostly Charlotte because I was in class (Danish final test successfully completed, for better or for worse) and as those who know me well can attest, I am not exactly terribly efficient at, well, anything [e.g. she peeled about fifty potatoes to my ten]. Everything turned out wonderfully though, even our HUGE (9 kilo) turkey, despite the fact that we did not get it until Thursday morning, and were unable to brine it according to the recipe. Altogether, we made turkey, stuffing with bacon, onion, and sage, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, gravy, cranberry compote, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie. Not bad if I do say so myself. Although Shuyao did not make it because she was already on her way to Vienna for a study tour, Scarlet did make it just in time for dinner (despite a brief moment in which I believed she was lost in the cold and the dark without any way to contact me). I explained the holiday and the food ot everybody, since they’d never tried most of it before. Everybody seemed to really enjoy it though, and although I could not understand 90% of the conversation, I did hear a lot of “laekkert”s and the whole experience was very hyggeligt. We had decorations courtesy of Karen’s sister who lives in the U.S., and one of the little girls took home a paper turkey to show her kindergarten class the next day. ADORABLE.

Overall it was one of my better Thanksgivings, and certainly the biggest one I can remember having–funny that it happened in Denmark. Experiences like this definitely make me look at my own culture in a different way though. I’m sure I’ll be reflecting on this a lot more as I prepare to return to the U.S. in less than 3 weeks (CRAZY) but being in Europe for a semester has really allowed me to look at American culture from the outside. There are things that I wish were more like the Danish system, and things I definitely miss, but most of all it’s just really cool to be able to see it as a culture at all. I think as Americans we have a tendency to see ourselves as the center of the universe, and as bland/non-defined, maybe partially because our culture is so globalized. Being here has really allowed me to see my own culture for what it is, both the bad and the good parts of it, and it’s a perspective I hope to be able to carry with me even when I am re-immersed back at home.

our giant turkey, pre-cooking, with pen on top for scale

on the door to greet the guests