This past weekend was a fantastic combination of making the most of my free time in a totally schoolwork-free way :) I still feel like I'm "wasting Denmark" when I sit around with no plans, so I went to bed Sunday with quite a feeling of accomplishment!
Saturday night, I FINALLY made my way out to a Folkehøjskole (another fun word to try and pronounce!). I LOVE the whole concept of the Folkehøjskole! It's a specifically Danish educational system, and the idea is for students to participate in a wide range of courses and extracurricular activities so they have an idea of what they want to pursue in the future, whether it be university or anything else! While I was there, I met a really cool girl (from Bornholm!) whose favorite class was some kind of outdoor class for which they did things like climb trees and spend ALL their time outdoors. Oh, and another fun perk: no exams or grades! Sound appealing?
To get there, I took about an hour-long train ride out of the city and into some cute little area (town? suburb?) called Humlebæk. Jordy met me at the train station, and we walked through a forest that was EXTREMELY unnerving by night but refreshing and beautiful by day :) The Folkehøjskole is right next to a huge organic farm (one of the largest in Denmark!) and it has big ol' bales of hay, sunflowers, and some brown cows (I'll elaborate more on these later). It houses somewhere around 80 students I would guess, and that includes some international students, 10 or so DIS students, and mostly Danes.
Anyway, onto the party :) The Danes go NUTS! The room was decorated, the playlist was a lot of fun (it included Ricky Martin and several other winners) and everyone was dressed up and dancing! I met people from Israel, Hungary, Ghana, Iceland, Japan, and several other Danish students (one of them even gave me a tour of the Folkehøjskole!). I got to talk with some Icelanders for a bit, and afterward concluded that everyone from Iceland has both an impossible to pronounce name and a wonderful sunshiny personality :) They were so friendly and welcoming, and were very patient while I tried and tried to get the names right (this never happened). I later heard that good attitudes are genetically inherited in Iceland; it's entirely dark so much of the year, so if they DIDN'T have good attitudes, they'd never make it! I don't know if this is true, but it's an interesting theory and I kinda like it :)
I think we konked out around 4:00, even though the party was still raging on (at this point, though, it was all Danes and no Americans - they put us to shame!). We woke up, had a lovely Sunday brunch, and headed out to go hang with the COWS!
I am SO BUMMED I didn't have my camera! Picture this: Big open fields lined with sunflowers (nearly dead now, unfortunately, because it's pretty much autumn!), bales of hay, trees and trees and trees, and, cows :) You can get RIGHT up close to them, and they're very friendly. We pet them, fed them, and started putting our faces right up close to them after we got more comfortable (and vice versa, I suppose). When I was feeding my personal favorite cow a handful of grass, her WHOLE TONGUE wrapped around my wrist! I could feel it there the rest of the day! What a RUSH.
After hanging with the cows for a fairly big chunk of time, we headed over to the KLAMPENBORG DEER PARK! Klampenborg is a northern suburb of Copenhagen, and is full of fun things like forests and beaches :) The deer park was beautiful (again, REALLY bummed I didn't have my camera)! There were several walking paths going through big groves of trees and fields. There were also some very appealing carriage rides, and big groups walking around with huge cameras. At first, we only saw a few boring old deer, but THEN, we saw guys like THIS:
Um, YEAH! REINDEER ALL OVER THE PLACE! It was funny to see the "head reindeer" (who knows what the heck they're REALLY called) bellowing at all the lower-tier reindeer. The little peasant reindeer always do exactly what the big old grumpy reindeer want!
After a very big animal-filled day, we headed over to Christiania for its 39th birthday party! First, we hit up a wonderful little vegan restaurant where there was live music, then we wandered around and listened to more music, went through the flea market and looked at all the things we wanted to buy but couldn't afford, and got the best hot chocolate IN THE WORLD (I even saved the cup, that's how good it was!). There was a HUGE birthday cake the size of a pool table decorated with winter wonderland scenery, lots of lights places to sit or dance and enjoy the music, and, of course, the smell of pot EVERYWHERE :) Everyone was in a great mood, and I loved the atmosphere. Great experience!
After we left I realized, OH my, my first midterm is tomorrow! I came back FULLY intending to study, I promise, but...somehow I ended up at Tivoli watching the closing ceremony fireworks instead (I don't know HOW it happened, don't blame me). They were FABULOUS and paired with some great music! Apparently Tivoli even has its own fireworks factory. Here's a video. Rest of the night went like this: came back, tried to study, didn't work, went to bed :) I can say that, though, because the midterm the next morning went just fine.
Tuesday evening, I hung out with my visiting family again :) They came and picked me up by bike, and we headed over to their apartment in Frederiksberg. The street they live on reminds me of the fab forties in Sacramento, and their apartment complex reminds me of the condo setup at Squaw Valley. Lifestyle envy! They made WONDERFUL Danish meatballs, potatoes, and red cabbage (a popular Christmas dish). We drank lots of red wine and talked for hours! It was wonderful! They're such a caring, close-knit family, and I'm so happy I can get in on it once in a while.Whenever there was a lapse in conversation, I would point to something and say, "what do you call this in Danish?". It worked pretty well as an icebreaker, and I think they had a lot of fun laughing at my Danish "skills." After dinner, we had tea (The two girls had licorice tea. EW. I opted for Christmas tea with honey; it was a Christmas-y themed night) and I watched Mama Mia with Emma and Sille. Great movie, if you're able to suspend reality for a bit :)
And finally, yesterday was Wednesday! I slept nice and late (no study tours) and spent the day with Colleen and Sarah at Kings Garden, halfway studying for our Danish test (happened today, went well!) and wholly enjoying the sunny, crisp fall weather. FINALLY, I have some photo documentation; however, the photo uploader just decided to wig out on me, so I'll have to try and post them later (at least I got the reindeer up here!).
This week was the first "heavy on the academics" week since my arrival here. By the end of the week, I will have completed two midterms, a presentation, and a paper for film class (that's next on the agenda for tonight!). Sunday, my Communications and Mass Media class is going to LONDON (!!!!) so I just need to keep my eye on the prize until then :) I am SO EXCITED to go! We're going to visit the Roman Baths and Stonehenge, see Wicked, visit a film production agency called "Delicious Edits" (sound intriguing?), and learn how to use London's Tube! The Tube is actually supposed to go on strike while we're there, so that should make for some interesting stories.
OK! Glad I got all that out there. Sorry for the lack of pictures; the second I'm able to snag some of the Folkehøjskole, Deer Park, or Christiania I'll put em RIGHT UP. ALSO, happy last day of September! The leaves are finally starting to change here. YES :) October is absolutely my favorite month of the year, and I have several spots picked out where I can't WAIT to see all the colorful leaves.
Time to get to the paper :(
Hej Hej, Vi ses, Farvel (all the ways I know how to sign off in Danish).
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