Gala, Skagen og dejlig sol!

If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.

Sorry I haven't written in a while, but I have been so busy! Things here have picked up SO much in the past few weeks, and I am the happiest and busiest I have been since I got here I think. Life is just so amazing at the moment, and I never want to come down from this happiness high! I haven't written a real update in a while, but hopefully I can remember everything I've done since then.

The weekend of March 25-27 I had two friends stay over with me, Nova and Emily. Normally on the weekends we go out into the city, but that weekend we decided to just have a girly weekend, and we watched movies and did facials and talked and it was really nice. Saturday during the day it was pretty nice out, so we walked around the city and had lunch, and then went back to my house for dinner and quiet night in. I love living right in Copenhagen, because it's so easy (and cheap!) for me to get around, not to mention how amazingly gorgeous it is!

(Thomas, Me, Nova, Emily and Claude out for lunch in Copenhagen)

Sunday the 27th I made the long trip out to Hillerød to meet up with the Danish girl who will be coming to district 5360 (my home district) next year. Her name is Helene, and she is really nice, and her family has hosted a bunch of students, so it was really easy to feel at home there. We started off the afternoon going to the big castle in Hillerød, which was amazing to see. You know you've been living in Europe too long when walking around thousand year old castles is a normal way to spend your Sunday... After that we walked back to her house and I met her family and we just talked and I told her a bit about Alberta and answered her questions, and then I stayed over for dinner. It was a really awesome day, and she had these two awesome huge dogs that I just fell in love with. They were so friendly and cute, and they made me miss my dog back home! Next year she'll be living almost two hours from me, but I still hope to meet up with her at some point and we can eat Danish food and have a big Denmark fest!

(Me in front of the castle in Hillerød)

School is pretty blah. The end of the school year is so close now, that I've just given up stressing over school, because it's clear to see that it's a lost cause. I still go of course, but I'm not bending over backwards to find my place anymore, it's more a matter of just smiling and getting through it. However, Friday was my schools Gala, and it was actually so much more fun than I had expected. I didn't really know to what to think going in, but it ended up being a great night with my class. I started off the night by going over to Chelsea's house and getting dressed with her, and then her host dad drove us to the school. For dinner we had like class pot luck, and it was a really nice time to spent with my class not in a formal setting. We just ate and talked and had class awards, and everything went really well. After the dinner part, we all went and did this old Danish dance called the lancier. The past few weeks we had been learning it in gym class, and it was funny to see the whole school doing it.

Here is a youtube link to what the first part looks like, so you can get an idea. There's five parts in total.

(Me and Chelsea all glammed up for the Gala)

(Me with some of my classmates)

Once that was over, the regular dance started, and for that I hung mostly out with Chelsea. I also stayed over the night at her house because early Saturday a Rotarian from her club and his wife picked us up to take us to Skagen. Skagen is a little city at the very top of Denmark, which is famous for it's art museum and for where two different oceans meet.

It's about a five hour drive from Taastrup, so as soon as we got there we went for lunch. Another thing Skagen is famous for is the seafood. The entire lunch menu was fish, and as someone who doesn't eat seafood, it didn't take me long to choose the one safety food off the menu which was just a chicken club. The whole time while we ate and I watched Chelsea eat her shrimp with the eyes still attached, I counted my blessings that I wasn't placed there.

After we ate we took this little bus up to Grenen, which is the the northmost tip of Jutland, and where the two seas, Skagerrak and Kattegat meet. It was windy and cold, but because Chelsea and I posses the Danish Viking spirit, and because neither of us knew when we'd be back, we braved the elements and rolled up our pants and went and stood between the two oceans. Our feet were freezing, but we were both really happy.

(Me and Chelsea standing between the two oceans)

On our way back to our hotel we stopped at this buried church. Skagen is really windy and really sandy, and over time the sand moved and slowly buried this church, and now all that's left is the tower. At first I thought the tower was the church, but then the Rotarian we were with explained that we were standing on the church; the sand had packed down enough that it was like solid ground.

(The tower of the Church)

It was getting pretty cold, and we were all a bit tired, so we headed back to the hotel. And oh my God what an amazing hotel it was. It was mediterranean theme, and soo awesome. And the best part was the amazing pool! It had a huge water slide and just looked so amazing! Neither of us had bathing suits though, so we decided to go walk around town and see if we could find cheap ones. Back home stores are open until at least eight on Saturday nights, but here everything SHUTS DOWN at four. No joke, it was a ghost town. We did find a cheap grocery store that was still open, but there wasn't really much else to do.

(The amazing pool at the hotel!)

(6 o`clock at night and not a person in sight)

We met back up at the hotel for dinner, which was so delicious. I swear I've never eaten so good or felt so full in my life as I did that weekend. So much good food! Eating out in Denmark is so expensive, so it was a really nice treat for us. As the night drew to a close, Chelsea and I decided that the pool was simply too amazing to pass up, bathing suit of no. So we went up to our room and put on t-shirts and proudly marched down to the pool in our t-shirts and underwear. We didn't even care how weird we looked because we had so much fun!

Sunday morning the amazing food continued, both with a breakfast buffet, and then a few hours later a huge lunch. For real I felt like I had gained 5 kilos, and I didn't think I would ever be able to eat. Somehow though I managed to waddle my way to the Skagen Art Museum. Skagen is famous for it's art because apperantly the light is special here, so people loved to paint here. The museum was really interesting though, and the art was very good. I couldn't see any difference in light, but I suppose I just don't have that artists eye.

That was where out weekend came to a close, and we made our way back home. It was late by the time we finally made it to Taastrup, so I spent the night over with Chelsea and then went with her to school Monday morning. Chelsea is so nice, and is so easy to be around. I'm so glad that she goes to my school and that I always have someone to talk to and we can relate to each other, and it was really nice to get to spend such a great weekend with her.

That week was pretty quiet. I got really sick Monday night, so Tuesday and Wednesday I just spent in bed. Being sick in Denmark is so hard because they don't have any over the counter meds to ease the pain, so my poor body actually has to work to get better.

Thursday I went to school for the last time over the next three weeks, and then Friday I had off, so Charlotte and I ran some errands, and then Chelsea came over and we made brownies. The weather here is getting so nice, and I can just feel my mood lifting. The atmosphere in Copenhagen is amazing, and I feel so lucky to be here! Saturday afternoon I met up with two other exchange students, Dia and Sarah, and we went shopping around Copenhagen and made a stop at the american food store, which I'm always happy for. Shopping in malls here isn't really popular, it's all about pedestrian streets, so we could shop and be out in the sun. Best of both worlds.

After we parted ways I headed out to my first family's house to spend the night with them. Like I've said before, I always feel at home the second I walk in the door, and I love spending time with them. We had dinner and then Simone and had a Twilight movie night. We had been talking about doing this forever, so I'm so happy we actually did, and that it wasn't one of those things that never end up happening.

Today was so hot, and I spent most of the day with them as well. Susanne, Simone and I drove into Copenhagen with the intention of going to the zoo, but it was so crowded, so instead we went into this park and just enjoyed the sun, and then drove back home and ate bagel sandwhiches and Simone and I fell alseep in the yard, it was so warm and sunny. I really hope this weather sticks around, because it's so much easier to be happy when the sun is shining.

And now I'm last minute packing because tomorrow morning I leave for Istanbul, Turkey. I am going with my first class, the one I moved out of in November, so I am a little bit nervous, but I just hope that if I'm outgoing and friendly that things will be okay. I can speak much better Danish now, so I'm hoping maybe that will help.Either way, I'm really looking forward to seeing a new country and culture, and I'm sure I'll have loads of fun.

So I will try to update soon after I return home on Friday!

Kærlig fra Danmark,

Andrea