Lillie Goes to Denmark!

Days thirteen and fourteen:

Well right now I'm not actually in Denmark anymore, sadly, but it is 7:36 am in Durham and the time change wouldn't let me sleep in.

But on Thursday I think most people just sort of hung around their host houses and tried to catch up on the sleep we lost in Copenhagen. I slept until noon, it was the first night I slept over six hours, and then Heidi and I went to her sister's apartment downtown near the University in Arhus for lunch. It was very nice and low key. We made open faced sandwiches, a classic Danish lunch. Afterwards, Henriette came to hang out with us and say goodbye. We went for a walk down to the small Tivoli in Arhus, which wasn't nearly as cool as the one in Copenhagen.

Then I went to the Jewish family's house for Passover seder and it was remarkably similar to the seder that my family and I have. Besides the reading of the story being in Danish, it could have been identical. And, like I said before, there isn't a very large Jewish population in Denmark, so she couldn't buy any of the Matza mixes to make the classic dishes like Matza ball soup or unleavened brownies. Instead, she made them all completely from scratch.

We left the seder and I went home and somehow managed to all of my things in my suitcases. But, I kid you not, if I had had one more thing to pack it wouldn't have fit. And my carry-on was completely full of gifts, and half of it was chocolate! Luckily, customs let it through, unlike the apple that almost got Grant left in Washington D.C. 

Friday morning we all met at the airport and had to say goodbye to all the Danes. It was so sad, there were even a couple of tears. And it wasn't just the girls. After finsishing the goodbyes we started our trek home at 7 am Danish time, and landed in Raleigh at 6:30 pm Durham time. That's 17.5 hours of travel. 

All the awesome Danes are coming to stay with families from Riverside in October, and even though most of the Americans were seniors, pretty much everyone will be close by so they'll be able to hang out with the Danes. Everyone but me. But that's okay, I think my fall break will overlap with their trip for one night. I guess that means I'll just have to go back to Denmark to see them again! Darn!

Days ten, eleven, and twelve:

Copenhagen was an incredible city! We woke up early Monday morning and rode a bus, ferry, and train to get to our little hotel right in the middle of the city. We could pretty much walk everywhere we wanted to go. So when we got there at around noon on Monday we dropped off our bags, grabbed a quick lunch, and then met back up with the group to go to a place called Christiania, which is technically part of Copenhagen, but people think of it as its own little town within the city. It was the most bizarre place I have ever been. It's basically a set of restaraunts an bars centered around a street called Pusher street where cameras are not allowed and people sell huge tubs of weed and all sorts of 'accessories' to go along with it. Even though marijuana is illegal in Denmark, apparently the police look the other way most of the time and then every once in a while try to raid it, but can't do anything to stop them from selling it.

Later we all went together to this nice italian restaurant where we waited, I kid you not, two hours for pizza. We did not try to go out for dinner together again. Then after dinner we went and hung out in the city.

In the morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and then went to walk through the city to the King's Garden, but ended up being an extremely long walk when me and one of the Danish girls got seperated from the group and lost in Copenhagen for OVER AN HOUR. We walked ahead  little bit and then looked at something and then when we turned around the entire group of over 30 people were completely gone. First we went looking for them and then after twenty minutes we decided we should probably just find our way to the King's Garden, where we were trying to go to. The King's Garden was one of the Danish King's home and now is a museum and a garden that sort of reminded me of Duke Gardens. But anyways, we walked around Copenhagen asking people for directions and we were able to get like two blocks of direction at a time and then we had to ask someone else. Eventually we made it there... but then the group didn't get there until thirty minutes later because they apparently went into some tower to look around. Even though it was a little stressful being lost it was also so fun  because we got the chance to find our way around and scout out all the shops before we went shopping today!

After our sightseeing and canal tour yesterday we went to Tivoli, the old amusement park in the middle of the city that was so cool! Unlike our amusement parks and rides, it was really pretty and very clean, and it didn't smell like fried food. We rode the roller coaster (which turned out not to be the old one, I got it confused with one in Arhus) and some other typical rides and then went back into the city for the night to walk around and hang out with everyone.

But today was definitely my favorite day! We woke up early and me and one Dane and one American tried to take the train to the Kosher Delicatessen on the other side of town to get some food to take to my Passover seder tomorrow night, but unfortunately it was closed for the holiday. And then when we got back to the hotel everyone had split off to go around and do what they wanted for the last day so the three of us girls went out to start our day of shopping and drinking coffee and hanging out. It was a nice break from traveling in our huge pack. 

The shopping in Copenhagen was phenomenal. There were so many kinds of clothing stores, accessories store, souvenir stores. And we went into every single one we could. When we ran out of energy, and Kroner, we went and hung out at Baresso, which is the Starbucks of Denmark, and then headed back to the hotel to meet up with everyone to go home.

Once again we rode the train, then ferry, then bus to get back to Arhus for our second to last night here. Wah! Tomorrow is our last day before we leave early Friday morning and I'm split between wanting to be home to sleep in my own bed and missing this incredible group of people I've become so close with and missing this country I'm enjoying so much. 

Days seven, eight, and nine:

Sorry it has been so long since my last post, but the last three days have been a blur! On Friday I went to my last day of school with Henriette, but sadly it was only a half day so we didn't get to spend too much time with the students in her class. Then we hung out around her house before we went to the party at her school. They have at least one huge party at their school a month and one of their students told me, "We are known around town for throwing the best parties, not for anything else." I didn't quite know how to react, but now I know why she said that. It was a great party.

On Saturday morning I got up and I had to pack up all my things from Henriette's house to move to my next host, Heidi. It was actually really sad to leave their home.  I became really close with her and her family. Her mom was hilarious and she called them my Danish family, and by the end of the week they absolutely were.

Heidi lives with her parents in a very classic Danish house that her father designed and built just outside the city of Århus. We had lunch with them on Saturday and then later we went to watch a soccer game at Rebecca, another Danish student's, house. Seriously, I have watched more sports here than ever in my life. 

Today we went to Lego land with Rebecca and Micah and it was so awesome. There was a whole village of Lego buidings like downtown Århus, Amsterdam, and the statue of liberty. They also had the best ride ever. You could customize your ride to a certain speed and then pick a sequence of flips and spins and all sorts of ridiculous things.

Tomorrow we are going to Copenhagen for three days and I am so excited! We are going to one of the oldest rollercoasters in the world! 

Oh, and I can't post any pictures until I get home because I'm using a mac now and I can't put my memory card into the computer! 

Day six:

Everyone met at school in the morning, but instead of sitting in on out hosts' classes today we went to watch the AGF Arhus soccer team practice and we got to meet Benny Feilhaber. I had no idea who he was before we came here, but he's an American on the Danish team who's apparently pretty good. But, once again. I know nothing about sports. I think I've actually watched more here in the past week than I have in the past year at home. It was pretty cool getting to meet him and talking to the team's manager.

 After we got all our pictures and autographs we all rode the bus back to school, and it was quite a spectacle. Imagine almost 20 loud Americans completely crowding the bus breaking, I'm sure, every single one of the unwritten bus rules.

And then, after school, we did my favorite thing. SHOPPING! We walked around their mall, which had really nice stores, and then we walked around and shopped in a pedestrian street that went on for at least five blocks. The mecca of shopping. One of my shopping goals while I'm here is to find a very European shirt to take back with me and being the southern person that I am, I am drawn to colorful cothes. The Danes are not into that. Almost every piece of clothing is a very neutral color and finally I found a dusty rose colored shirt I thought could work and when I came out of the dressing room Henriette looked at me and said, "Um, it's pink." So back that one went, and eventually I did find a shirt (cream colored, of course) I can call my European shirt.

We rode the bus home after shopping and had dinner with her family. I got to meet Henriette's oldest sister, Sarah, who doesn't live at home anymore. Then we got ready to go and hang out with some of the other Riverside students and their hosts. Denmark is so amazing, I think I can speak for everyone here when I say we're having a great time!

Days four and five:

Yesterday Henriette and I got up and got a quick bite to eat at home before we left to take the bus to school again. Unfortunatley, the weather wasn't as nice as the first two days. It was raining and 40 degrees.

We got to school and went to her classes. The school is very different from school at home. It's not quite high school or college, I'd say it's sort of a middle college. They have 45 minutes block lessons, and two lessons make up one class. Classes are really relaxed and they seriously have breaks all the time. We'll be in the common area doing group work and everyone will just stop and leave to go get a snack from the cafe, or go smoke, or just blare music through the classroom's speakers.

I left school early with Ms. Davidson and a Danish teacher Heidi to go meet with a Jewish family that I an going to have Passover sedar with. Since Passover is while I'm in Denmark, they found one of the very few Jewish families in Arhus and they are going to have Ms. Davidson and I over for sedar. I thought there weren't many Jews in Durham, but there aren't even enough Jews in Arhus to have a synagogue. Although, it sounds like they're are more in Copenhagen.

Afterwards, Henriette and her dad drove us out to a town called Rømø where their family has a summer house on the beach. It was the cutest little town. Her grandparents were there and near Henriette's summer house is another one that belongs to her family where her grandfather grew up. It sounds cheesy, but I have never been to a place with so much history and character. We went for a couple walks on the beach and then this morning we walked to a church down the road where Henriette's family has been going for five generations. FIVE.

We left Rømø and on the way home we stopped at the oldest city in Denmark where we went to a huge and gorgeous old cathedral. We walked to the top of it (which was like walking to the top of the Hatterus lighthouse) and we could see the whole city and a lot of the Danish countryside. If I had to use one word to describe it, it would be flat. And it I could use two, they would be incredibly flat. There was not a hill, and there definitely weren't any mountains.

When we got home, Laila made us some dinner of chicken and rice, I guess that's a univeral meal, before we went to the soccer match. People weren't that into the basketball game we went to, but they were CRAZY over the soccer match. Everyone was screaming and cheering and spilling their beer everywhere. The energy in the stadium was incredible. Their team is apparently really good, not that I could tell. I am completely sports incompetant. But they are number one in their conference and they won their game 2-0.

We got home and there was a spread of Danish candies on the table. YUM! They're famous for their chocolates and they had some that were like turtle chocolates, and then there were others in the shape of turtles with cream in the middle. Super confusing. And then there were some big ones that looked like snowballs, but were a chocolate covered gooey marshmellow.

I'm about to go to bed, it's almost midnight here, but tomorrow we are going to meet one of the players on the soccer team. I can't wait!

P.S. I hope everyone enjoys this post twice as much as usual because I had it completely done and somehow I deleted it. So this is version number two. The computer's commands are in Danish and I though I was pressing save, but apparently that's not was 'nej' means.

Days one, two and three:

We got here safe and sound yesterday after approximately 21 hours of travel at 11 am Danish time and 5 am American time. Although somehow I wasn't completely exhausted when we landed. When we got off our third flight in Billunds, Denmark, about an hour away from Arhus, where we're staying, there were lots of blondes and Danes waiting for our arrival.

I drove home with Henriette, her sister Johanne, and her dad Torben (which sounds like Tom) through the Danish countryside to her house. When we got home I met Henriette's mom, Laila (which sounds like Layla), and younger sister, Lisbeth. Her mom made an interesting smørrebrød of rye bread, tuna spread, cucumber, and a mayonaise relish spread. I'm still getting used to the Danish foods, they're very heavy in mayonaise.

We took the two buses downtown and it was so awesome! Henriette asked me if I took the bus at home, and when I told her I never did because they were kind of scary she was shocked. I walked around downtown in a place that is kind of like American Tobacco with shops and restaurants and a canal running through it and it was completely swarming with people. The weather was like 70 degrees and sunny, which is unusual for Denmark this time of year.

We came home, had dinner, and I was out at 9:30. That's the end of days one, and sort of two. It felt longer than a day on 24.

This morning Henriette and I took the bus to school, had breakfast with the other students from Riverside and their hosts and went to her class. We had math which was completely in Danish, Social Science which was mostly in Danish, and then English which was obviously all in English taught by a very Bristish guy. He called me out several times to ask to me to explain words. As my friends know, I don't do well on the spot, so when he asked me to explain what 'embellish' meant I completely froze. Eventually I spat out some horrible definition.

After school we went to an outside museum after school called The Old Town, which was like a Colonial Williamsburg of Denmark. Then afterwards we walked through town again and stopped at a couple shops before meeting a bunch of other students at the finals of the professional Denmark basketball team. And even though I know absolutely nothing about basketball and the team was horrible, it was so much fun! They won in overtime and afterwards we stormed the court and I got a picture with Chris Christoffersen, their star and only player over six feet.

Now its after 11 here and I'm about to go to bed. It has been nonstop fun, and I'm exhausted.

Check back later for more!

Tomorrow is the day!

After months of preparation, two huge suitcases, and my Denmark guidebooks, I’m finally ready to go! We leave tomorrow morning from the RDU airport, land in the Washington DC airport, have a four hour layover, and then, finally, land in Copenhagen at 7:15 Sunday morning. I have a feeling I will need lots of coffee on Sunday.  I’m staying with one family for the first week, and I will go to school with the daughter, Henriette (so Danish, right?).  That’s all I know about our itinerary for now. All I can say is that I hope everything I’ve heard about the Danes’ fashion and their superb coffee is true.

Keep checking back to hear updates on my trip!