Despite my denial, my family and friends on both sides of the Atlantic made yesterday a wonderful day for me. Birthday celebration started with a night out on Thursday, culture night in Copenhagen on Friday, dinner and drinks out on Saturday, a 12-person 3-course birthday dinner Sunday night, and an intimate "family" birthday dinner last night.
Friday's culture night is an annual event in CPH. For $18 you get public transportation around the city and admission to 100 attractions, including parliament, dance lessons, historical reenactments, a haunted house, an afterparty thrown by Carlsberg brewery, and many more. I wish that I could tell you I had a culturally rich experience but lines were long and the night wasn't long enough. However, Chelsea and I had reindeer soup.
On Saturday I had Mexican food for the first time since arriving and it was fabulous. Thanks Duyen for the treat! (picture to come)
And Lisbeth was so generous to have us all over Sunday night. To prepare, we made 72 frikadellas (large Danish meatballs), 2 pans of scalloped potatoes, green bean and pepper salad, two cheesecakes, and a big bowl of "apple cake." And the leftovers are so worth it. I couldn't thank her enough!
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| Chelsea, Alicia, Jessie, Liz, Cara, Lindsay, Sam, Hannah, and Alexis on Sunday night |
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| My gift from Lisbeth - a book of Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales |
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| My gift from my "second" host mom, Lone - a pandora bracelet |
Last weekend, when we returned from our long study tours, Lisbeth and Lone took Chelsea and I to the south of Zealand and we stayed with their friend Helle in her employer's "summer cottage." It was a nice little girls weekend to shop, talk, relax, eat (alot), look at pictures, watch a movie, and take a walk at the beach.
On the way back we hiked at Møns Klint, a cliff made of chalk on the eastern coast, a popular tourist attraction and the only cliff in Denmark. Though little in the way of natural beauty could astound me after being in Scotland, it is a remarkable place that was worth seeing.
The weeks are increasingly busy as my weekends are spent gallavanting around Europe or having birthdays. Cramming volunteering, class, group meetings, commuting time, field trips and now homework into 5 days is getting harder but I haven't been very stressed out here and I hope it stays that way. I took a bike ride today and saw how the leaves are changing color and falling, and saw a rainbow, and it epitomized my experience here. It's like a movie. And I have time to stop and appreciate the beauty of nature. I hope some of these "lessons" that I've learned will transfer back home. Speaking of, I'm exactly halfway through my time here.
Again I'd like to thank all of my family and friends for birthday wishes and gifts - it made my non-conventional 21st really enjoyable.
Off to Norway this weekend, will update when I get back!
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