What....what...WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!
How in the world I am packing up to go home? This cannot be.
But, alas, it is. Four months in this fabulous country have flown by and now I must pack up and go home.
This is sad, I tell you. To spend the majority of my last day here cleaning is not how I pictured it, but that's reality I suppose.
I remember flying into 70 degree weather and now I am staring at a winter wonderland outside. Snow is everywhere! It's a good thing the Danes left last week or else I would have been absolutely dreading leaving the højskole. Like I said in the previous post, the højskole just became a building after they left, so in a way I am ready to say good bye. Luckily, I get to meet up with some of my best Danish friends tonight for one last dinner. They all come back from Turkey tonight, so I get to have one more hygge session with them. They honestly made my experience as fabulous as it was. I can't thank them enough for being so accepting and friendly. They were just absolutely amazing and hopefully I will be able to see some of them in future!
I don't really know how to write a good bye post, it really hasn't hit me yet. I am one of those people who starts crying after the good bye. It hits me when I am not there. This is unfortunate because I have to write this post now. I suppose I will just do one when I get home because that's when the waterworks will hit. Goodbye Denmark. I have the strangest feeling leaving you. I can't really describe it. All I can say is that I have LOVED my experience here. To those who are looking to do DIS, live in a folkhøjskole! Quite honestly one of the best decisions I could have made. It made Denmark apart me. (Corny, but true.)
Well, I have to get back to packing/ cleaning, I have to leave my room incredibly clean for the next DIS students!
The finale post will be typed up in good ole' AMERICA.
Hej hej!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Living in a Folkhøjskole Video
If you're interested in living in a højskole, I did an interview about the living situation for DIS. It gives you a good look of what the Grundtvig Højskole looks like.
The Dreaded Last Week
Here I am....the last week.
My Copenhagen experience is coming to an end. I have such mixed feelings about leaving Copenhagen. Part of me is ready to go home, and the other half is not ready to leave this wonderful existence where everyday is a new adventure.
The only reason I am saying that I am ready to go home is that we had to say goodbye to our Danish friends in the højskole this weekend. For their last week, they all left to go to Turkey with the teachers, so now the Americans are left all alone in the højskole for the last week.
The Danish friends I have met here have really made my experience as wonderful as it has been, so when they left I was saying good bye to the Danish experience that I had known for these past four months. It was horrible saying good bye to some of my best friends, because there is a possibility that I will never see them again. Hopefully, I will, but in reality our two countries are very far apart. It is a dismal realization. However, our last week together was filled with great memories. We had an open mike night where Margaret and I did "Proud Mary" and the other Danes showcased some of their talents. We had a night where their parents came and we got to see all their artwork, photography, films, journalism work, and their choir sing! We also walked around the castle with them and had more snowball fights.
On the last night, we had a party where basically all we did was cry and hygge (getting cozy by the fire and sing songs and talk). The højskole provided a lovely finale dinner filled with speeches and songs and then we had an open bar for the rest of the evening. I spent the night hanging out with my best friends Tinne, Tijana, Freydis, Freya, and Kenneth talking about our memories and plans for the future. It was a bittersweet night filled with memories and friendship. The next morning I got up to say goodbye....there were lots of tears and it was very hard to watch them walk away. The resonating sound of emptiness filled the højskole when they left. The common room usually filled with a roaring fire, friendly faces and laughter was still and quiet in the morning light. The student's photography and artwork no longer brightened up the hallways. The lovely højskole I had known and made wonderful memories in was now just a building.
Though Margaret and I were very depressed from our friends leaving, we were determined to make our last week in Denmark a great one. I only have two exams on Thursday and Friday so I had about 4 or 5 days to do absolutely anything. So far we have gone to all the Christmas markets in Gammeltorv, Nyhavn, and Christania. These markets are filled with Christmas or "Jule" cheer. There is spiced hot wine (called glook), roasted nuts, christmas ornaments, knitted Norwegian sweaters, and much more just filling these markets. It was quite Christmasy.
I went to the International højskole in Helsingør, where the other DIS students lived. It was a neat experience because that højskole has students from practically every continent in the world and the base language spoken is English, so it was kind of like being back home.
I also walked to our castle one more time (Frederiksborg) and just walked in the gardens and admired the frozen lake and the snow. I was going to go to the IceBar but unfortunately last night I kind of broke my big toe.....so right now I am confined to my bed for a day or two...the snow is coming in handy as ice. So since I am injured, my plans have been cut short but I may spend the next few days studying and bonding with my fellow Americans about the wonderful adventures we have had in Denmark. Skol!
P.S. I also lost my camera, so the pictures on here are taken by my talented (Danish) friend, Kenneth.
My Copenhagen experience is coming to an end. I have such mixed feelings about leaving Copenhagen. Part of me is ready to go home, and the other half is not ready to leave this wonderful existence where everyday is a new adventure.
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| Tijana and I at the castle! |
The only reason I am saying that I am ready to go home is that we had to say goodbye to our Danish friends in the højskole this weekend. For their last week, they all left to go to Turkey with the teachers, so now the Americans are left all alone in the højskole for the last week.
The Danish friends I have met here have really made my experience as wonderful as it has been, so when they left I was saying good bye to the Danish experience that I had known for these past four months. It was horrible saying good bye to some of my best friends, because there is a possibility that I will never see them again. Hopefully, I will, but in reality our two countries are very far apart. It is a dismal realization. However, our last week together was filled with great memories. We had an open mike night where Margaret and I did "Proud Mary" and the other Danes showcased some of their talents. We had a night where their parents came and we got to see all their artwork, photography, films, journalism work, and their choir sing! We also walked around the castle with them and had more snowball fights.
On the last night, we had a party where basically all we did was cry and hygge (getting cozy by the fire and sing songs and talk). The højskole provided a lovely finale dinner filled with speeches and songs and then we had an open bar for the rest of the evening. I spent the night hanging out with my best friends Tinne, Tijana, Freydis, Freya, and Kenneth talking about our memories and plans for the future. It was a bittersweet night filled with memories and friendship. The next morning I got up to say goodbye....there were lots of tears and it was very hard to watch them walk away. The resonating sound of emptiness filled the højskole when they left. The common room usually filled with a roaring fire, friendly faces and laughter was still and quiet in the morning light. The student's photography and artwork no longer brightened up the hallways. The lovely højskole I had known and made wonderful memories in was now just a building.
Though Margaret and I were very depressed from our friends leaving, we were determined to make our last week in Denmark a great one. I only have two exams on Thursday and Friday so I had about 4 or 5 days to do absolutely anything. So far we have gone to all the Christmas markets in Gammeltorv, Nyhavn, and Christania. These markets are filled with Christmas or "Jule" cheer. There is spiced hot wine (called glook), roasted nuts, christmas ornaments, knitted Norwegian sweaters, and much more just filling these markets. It was quite Christmasy.
I went to the International højskole in Helsingør, where the other DIS students lived. It was a neat experience because that højskole has students from practically every continent in the world and the base language spoken is English, so it was kind of like being back home.
I also walked to our castle one more time (Frederiksborg) and just walked in the gardens and admired the frozen lake and the snow. I was going to go to the IceBar but unfortunately last night I kind of broke my big toe.....so right now I am confined to my bed for a day or two...the snow is coming in handy as ice. So since I am injured, my plans have been cut short but I may spend the next few days studying and bonding with my fellow Americans about the wonderful adventures we have had in Denmark. Skol!
P.S. I also lost my camera, so the pictures on here are taken by my talented (Danish) friend, Kenneth.
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| Memories...walking to McDonald's haha |
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| Chelsea (American) and I at the final party! |
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| A final walk to the castle... |
Monday, December 6, 2010
The.Bieber.Parade.
This is a Danish adventure is sure to top all the rest.
This weekend I was witness to a tragic event. A decimation to humanity, an absolute catastrophe to the Danish culture.......I witnessed the unspeakable crime of a Bieber Parade.
That's right. A parade...solely dedicated to the worship of an elven-sized lad named Justin Bieber. Praised for his angelic voice and cherub-like looks, Justin Bieber is a god among teeny boppers everywhere. Atleast 90% of the pre-pubescent girl population have pledged their heart and soul to him on countless fan forums. To my utter dismay, it seemed that the plague of "Bieber fever" had magically wafted its way over from America and had hit Copenhagen. Symptoms including uncontrollable sobbing, obsessive replaying of "Baby", and dire desperation to please and praise this Keebler House elf with obsessive fan relics and facebook dedication posts seemed to be evident among this throng of 800 girls in City Square.
It.was.horrifying.
Now you ask (or maybe not)....how did I come upon this herd of Biebers?
Well, I was peacefully strolling through the quaint shopping street of Strøget, taking in the sweet smells of roasted nuts and the faint glistening of snowflakes as they slowly fluttered down among the throng of Christmas shoppers. Christmas music filled the air and all was merry.....that's when I heard it.
The chanting. I should have left right then when I heard the first note piercing note of "One Time" ruin the Christmas atomsphere. It was a horrific sight. I turned to see what appeared to be thousands of braces clad, silly-band wearing Danish girls.
I was like Simba in the Lion King stampede, but instead of wildebeest it was much worse.....it was a herd of BELIEBERS.
The signs, the shirts, the metal on their teeth....I was trying to desperately out run them. They came fast though, their mission was to be heard throughout Copenhagen. Their mission to spread the belief of BIEBER was unstoppable. I didn't have Mufasa to rescue me from under their pounding All-Star clad feet, I had to rely on my own street skills to dodge these fiends of pre-teendom.
*Ok, yes this is one hyperbole of a tale but it's for emotional effect. *
Luckily, I escaped but I will never forget the day that the Bieber Fever hit Copenhagen. Let us all pray for mercy upon the Danish population, may they survive the plague of BIEBER. STAY STRONG DENMARK...STAY STRONG.
*Retold from Courtney's actual harrowing encounter of the BIEBER PARADE
This weekend I was witness to a tragic event. A decimation to humanity, an absolute catastrophe to the Danish culture.......I witnessed the unspeakable crime of a Bieber Parade.
That's right. A parade...solely dedicated to the worship of an elven-sized lad named Justin Bieber. Praised for his angelic voice and cherub-like looks, Justin Bieber is a god among teeny boppers everywhere. Atleast 90% of the pre-pubescent girl population have pledged their heart and soul to him on countless fan forums. To my utter dismay, it seemed that the plague of "Bieber fever" had magically wafted its way over from America and had hit Copenhagen. Symptoms including uncontrollable sobbing, obsessive replaying of "Baby", and dire desperation to please and praise this Keebler House elf with obsessive fan relics and facebook dedication posts seemed to be evident among this throng of 800 girls in City Square.
 |
| HORROR. |
Now you ask (or maybe not)....how did I come upon this herd of Biebers?
Well, I was peacefully strolling through the quaint shopping street of Strøget, taking in the sweet smells of roasted nuts and the faint glistening of snowflakes as they slowly fluttered down among the throng of Christmas shoppers. Christmas music filled the air and all was merry.....that's when I heard it.
The chanting. I should have left right then when I heard the first note piercing note of "One Time" ruin the Christmas atomsphere. It was a horrific sight. I turned to see what appeared to be thousands of braces clad, silly-band wearing Danish girls.
I was like Simba in the Lion King stampede, but instead of wildebeest it was much worse.....it was a herd of BELIEBERS.
The signs, the shirts, the metal on their teeth....I was trying to desperately out run them. They came fast though, their mission was to be heard throughout Copenhagen. Their mission to spread the belief of BIEBER was unstoppable. I didn't have Mufasa to rescue me from under their pounding All-Star clad feet, I had to rely on my own street skills to dodge these fiends of pre-teendom.
*Ok, yes this is one hyperbole of a tale but it's for emotional effect. *
Luckily, I escaped but I will never forget the day that the Bieber Fever hit Copenhagen. Let us all pray for mercy upon the Danish population, may they survive the plague of BIEBER. STAY STRONG DENMARK...STAY STRONG.
 |
| ABOMINATION OF MUSIC. |
Friday, December 3, 2010
Let It snow, let it snow, let it snow
Let it snow!!!!!!
(even though people are freezing to death throughout Europe) whatevs. It is so pretty!!!
Well, once again we find me abstaining from work. What's new.
I have a 15-page European film paper due next week, but that's basically it. Sooo I am just chillin' (literally) in the hangout room of Grundtvigs. I got some awesome reading glasses today from Tiger (the dollar store). I don't wear glasses but sometimes I trick myself into believing that I need them and in turn I feel more intellectual, so I bought some. Nothing about that reason of thinking is logical.
They also function as a great intellectual head band.
What are some Danish adventures I have been up to....wellllll:
1) Margaret and I ventured out into the snow to get firewood. This sounds so "1863: Uncle Tom's Cabin-esque" but it wasn't, it was already chopped up. We just had to get it.
2) Um, I watched the Danish film "Anti-Christ." Disturbing.
3) Worked on my foosball skills with the Danes, slowly but surely I will learn how to properly play without spinning my players into a frenzy.
4) Had some schwarma. Also, had some McDonald's. Ate a jar of Nutella. That's not Danish, but it is relevant. Food is always relevant.
5) Learned how to count to ten in Danish. Seeing that I have a difficult time counting money, this was a surprisingly hard task.
6) Walked...to... places.
7) Drew a polar bear today during Nordic Mythology.
8) Sang Christmas carols at the højskole around a fire. A large amount of Danes know how to play piano (they also know 5 languages fluently) so they are possibly a more superior culture.
9) Taught the Danes how to make s'mores!!!!!! It was so cute. The Danes with their little scarves and sweaters learned how to make s'mores. O my gosh, the Danes are just always adorable. You just want to keep one in your pocket.
Daw, I love Danes. They are just such gorgeous people (inside and out). I love my højskole (I TOTALLY JUST FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE the ø!!!!)
This just completely revolutionizes my blog.
What else can I do when I press the option key?
œ∑´®®†¥¥¨ˆøπˆåß∂ƒ©˙∆∆˚¬¬…æΩ≈ç√∫˜˜µ≤≥÷¡™¢∞§¶•ªº
Guess I know what I am doing for the rest of the night.
I swear Apple computers are like the Narnia closet, you just open it up and there are so many magical things to do.
(even though people are freezing to death throughout Europe) whatevs. It is so pretty!!!
Well, once again we find me abstaining from work. What's new.
I have a 15-page European film paper due next week, but that's basically it. Sooo I am just chillin' (literally) in the hangout room of Grundtvigs. I got some awesome reading glasses today from Tiger (the dollar store). I don't wear glasses but sometimes I trick myself into believing that I need them and in turn I feel more intellectual, so I bought some. Nothing about that reason of thinking is logical.
 |
| Totally worth it...right? Snazzy. |
What are some Danish adventures I have been up to....wellllll:
1) Margaret and I ventured out into the snow to get firewood. This sounds so "1863: Uncle Tom's Cabin-esque" but it wasn't, it was already chopped up. We just had to get it.
2) Um, I watched the Danish film "Anti-Christ." Disturbing.
3) Worked on my foosball skills with the Danes, slowly but surely I will learn how to properly play without spinning my players into a frenzy.
4) Had some schwarma. Also, had some McDonald's. Ate a jar of Nutella. That's not Danish, but it is relevant. Food is always relevant.
5) Learned how to count to ten in Danish. Seeing that I have a difficult time counting money, this was a surprisingly hard task.
6) Walked...to... places.
7) Drew a polar bear today during Nordic Mythology.
8) Sang Christmas carols at the højskole around a fire. A large amount of Danes know how to play piano (they also know 5 languages fluently) so they are possibly a more superior culture.
9) Taught the Danes how to make s'mores!!!!!! It was so cute. The Danes with their little scarves and sweaters learned how to make s'mores. O my gosh, the Danes are just always adorable. You just want to keep one in your pocket.
 |
| Learn fast...like the dodo bird, they will soon be extinct. |
This just completely revolutionizes my blog.
What else can I do when I press the option key?
œ∑´®®†¥¥¨ˆøπˆåß∂ƒ©˙∆∆˚¬¬…æΩ≈ç√∫˜˜µ≤≥÷¡™¢∞§¶•ªº
Guess I know what I am doing for the rest of the night.
I swear Apple computers are like the Narnia closet, you just open it up and there are so many magical things to do.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Now it's cold.
Frozen. Absolutely frozen. I don't even want to walk 10 minutes for I am in fear of slowly turning into a glacier. Ok, that's obviously an exaggeration. A glacier takes a long time to form. Moving on..
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| Don't mind meeee |
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| Seems like a nice guy. |
 |
| Maybe an explorer...maybe not. You know I have actually been relatively surprised with the weather here in Denmark. I thought it was going to rain all the time and we would be experiencing sub-zero temperatures by October. Nei, it has only rained a handful of times and the sub-zero temperatures didn't hit till this weekend. MERRY CHRISTMAS! Well, I must learn to master the Scandinavian ways of bundling up. Massive scarves, knitted crap, Norwegian sweaters, and the occasional thigh high boot seems to be the way to go. I may have to take a trip to the "Sweater house" this weekend and do a little damage to the bank account. May buy a reindeer blanket or two, because no house is complete without the essential Rudolph throw rug. As shown here.  Who knows what to do. Three weeks left...so sad. I don't want to leaveeeeeee! (despite the cold) The other day I had my last core class and I honestly felt depressed leaving it. Never before have I loved a class so much, that I didn't want to leave it. Our professor made us a goodbye cake that said, "team awesome" (epic right?) in messy handwriting..dawwwwww SO CUTE. I was coming very close to just engulfing my professor in a huge hug and just letting him know how much I loved my class. I suppressed that urge and settled for a handshake, but I felt utterly defeated and melancholy leaving that class for the last time. Someone cue the the depressing Charlie Brown Christmas music. |
To further exemplify how awesome my classes are, I brought it one of my Danish friends to class. No reason, just a little show n' tell if you will. Just waltzed on in 20 minutes late (due to train problems aka girl getting run over). Don't worry she was okay...back to the story.
It was great, it was like that one time in 4th grade when someone snuck their bunny into class and got away with it. Except I did it with a Dane. Mad props.
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| Not always the easiest task. Okay well, I can further procrastinate studying for my Communications class exam by writing more on this blog but I must bid you farewell once more. Tootles. |
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| Margaret= Denmark weather. Photo credit: Kenneth Laugaard Andersen |
Sunday, November 28, 2010
A Happy "Taksgiving"
One thing that never really occurred to me is that Thanksgiving is an American holiday. It's when you're abroad that you notice these simple little things. Like, oh we don't have 20 lbs turkeys at our disposal...well in this case we made it happen, we brought America to Denmark. How did we do this? We ordered two 20lb turkeys from the American Air Force base in Germany. That's what I call utilizing our connections. We also received a large amount of Thanksgiving decorations shipped in from the States to make it an extra authentic Thanksgiving. True, it looked like we were throwing Thanksgiving for a bunch of Kindergardeners, but hey if the pilgrim statues get the point across then so be it.
The next night one of our friends from Elon invited us over to his host family's house in Lynge for a second Thanksgiving! It was pretty much the same deal, but we had duck instead of turkey. Mm mm good. It was nice to be included in a family dinner again, and to see and interact with Danish children was a lot of fun too. Later on, we came home in a crazy blizzard that left us with 2 ft of snow in the morning. So of course, this calls for a snowball fight. I literally got pounded into the snow, this was a battle of the best.
The next day I just vegged out. I literally did nothing. I procrastinated from doing my procrastination work. Later we all had a "super hero" themed party. This was hard because where in the world would I get a costume for that?! Luckily people went as the most random things possible. There was Cinnamon Man, the ManEater, the Joker's son, and then people who just came in their regular clothes. It worked out.
O my gosh, I only have 3 more weeks left here....where.did.that. go. I am just in pure shock right now! How did 4 months fly by so fast?!?!? Wow, well Ill post an update soon.
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| A Taksgiving Dinner! |
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| Lovely decorations The Americans at the hojskole really outdid themselves. The kitchen staff was nice enough to let us borrow their ovens and cooking materials to make our Thanksgiving an extraordinary feast and some of the girls were really able to put their cooking talents to test. We had two butterball turkeys (w/stuffing), green bean casserole, corn, peas, cinnamon sweet potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, buttered Southern rolls, three homemade pies (with homemade whip cream) and decorations everywhere. It was the ultimate Thanksgiving. We ate dinner in the oldest room of the hojskole which had authentic wooden Danish furniture from the 17th century and we held hands and went around and said what we were thankful for. We invited some of the Danes to come and experience a thanksgiving and they loved it! It was quite the festive feast. O and I had my first "white" thanksgiving! We had snow on the ground which made it even more enchanting. |
The next day I just vegged out. I literally did nothing. I procrastinated from doing my procrastination work. Later we all had a "super hero" themed party. This was hard because where in the world would I get a costume for that?! Luckily people went as the most random things possible. There was Cinnamon Man, the ManEater, the Joker's son, and then people who just came in their regular clothes. It worked out.
O my gosh, I only have 3 more weeks left here....where.did.that. go. I am just in pure shock right now! How did 4 months fly by so fast?!?!? Wow, well Ill post an update soon.
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