[January 9] Århus, Denmark: Goodbye, Europe

Tomorrow bright and early in the morning, my Aunt is going to drive me to the train station to begin my journey home (very, very early in the morning... she's a trooper and awfully nice!). 

Aarhus --> Copenhagen --> Washington D.C. --> Seattle... HOME SWEET HOME!!!

It will take no less than 24 hours to get home, but the thought of meeting my parents at the airport will definitely keep my spirits up! I really hate flying and the logistics of traveling. Even though I've clearly been traveling quite a bit and have been on airplanes several times in my life, I'm still not especially comfortable with it all! I love riding on trains, but I get nervous about missing them, so on and so forth. 

As I started out my European adventure in Denmark and have ended it in Denmark, it feels like London etc. never happened! Ha ha, well not quite but I have made a full circle. I started out fresh and excited in the sunny summertime, and as nature ends its cycle in the wintertime, so I end my travels. Soon it will be spring and I can start things new and fresh—I have a lot to look forward to and a lot on my 2011 To Do List!

As of now, I feel the best thing about my abroad experiences in Europe have been proving to myself that I CAN DO IT. I can show up at a completely new place not knowing anyone or where anything is and in a sense, start over. I eventually felt pretty comfortable in London and developed a routine.

I think it will probably take awhile for me to totally process everything I have experienced, and I'm curious how I will feel about everything in a few months or a year when I look back at it all. Will I miss London? When will I miss it? Because I don't miss it quite yet, but then again, I'm still away from home. 

I really like these pictures because it shows a scene in Aarhus that I took a picture of in both Summer and Winter:

Wish me luck with my travels tomorrow! :)

Goodbye, Europe!

Hello, USA!

[January 5] Århus, Denmark: Nytårkoncerter

I haven't gone into the city too much during this stay. I think I've seen most of the things I feel like seeing, so now I just kind of wander around and look in different shops. I bought a delicious hot dog from a stand, bought some candy, looked in bookstores, toy stores, clothing shops, jewelry shops, secondhand shops, etc. It's fun but I don't feel like buying anything as I have limited space in my suitcase, and I'm just not really in the consumer mood. The other day I sat inside a cafe inside a bookstore to write which was really nice, but coffee here is SO expensive. My small plain latte was almost $6. Well, I don't do that very often here... I think Scandinavia in general is really, really expensive. Normal groceries are really expensive, too. Gah. 

The Dom Kirke:

I went with my Aunt and Uncle to see a New Year concert the Århus Symfoniorkester was putting on. I'm really glad they thought of going! It made me miss my violin a bit. It was a really fun concert and the music was all really well-done... my favorite piece they played involved two old typewriters... :)

[January 3] Århus, Denmark: The Icy Coast & Uncle's Generously Dispensed Wisdom

On a particularly sunny day, I went on a little bike ride to the beach to soak up some rays (ha, ha) and enjoy the scenery. It was really peaceful and I felt great. :)

Later that night for an appetizer, I made these little dried dates stuffed with goat cheese with chopped roasted pine nuts mixed in, and little pine nuts on top. I think they look like bugs...

And here are some pics my Aunt took of my Uncle 'lecturing' me on... well, everything. Ha ha. Politics and history seem to be his favorite topics.

('What is he talking about...? HEH?)

[December 31] Århus, Denmark: New Year's Eve!

December 30th was spent traveling form Dortmund --> Hamburg --> Århus, to where my Aunt and Uncle live. I made a stupid mistake and got off at the wrong Hamburg train stop at which no one working there except a random traveler spoke English, so I had to take another train to the right stop, then wait almost four hours at the train station, which was really cold and busy, busy, busy. I was pretty mad at myself because the mistake was really obvious later. But, I finally got to Århus. 

On New Year's Eve day, I went with my Aunt because she did the polar bear plunge! They don't call it that but a bunch of people get together and run into the ICY water all naked! BRRRR! I couldn't even go in the water in summertime!

Don't look at ME—I am NOT goin' in there!

Mmm...

Later that evening, I went with my Aunt and Uncle to a gathering of their friends. It was really nice that I could go along with them and meet everyone and experience what they typically do. There was a really nice, delicious dinner, and we sang songs in between courses. Really fun! Eating took basically the whole evening, ha ha. When it gets closer to midnight, everyone went upstairs for champagne and to get a better look at the fireworks. I think fireworks for New Years are a lot bigger deal here than in the States, maybe because we get it out of our systems on the 4th of July?!

Godt Nytår fra Danmark!

[September 7] Århus, Denmark --> London, England

Well it came time to say goodbye... I was both sad and happy. Sad because I had started to feel comfortable in my new surroundings, but happy because my adventures in London awaited!

Here is Uncle saying goodbye in the morning before he rode off to work:

I used Ryanair to fly from the small airport in Århus to London. As you can see, we are just loading onto the plane from the tarmac and on the plane you could sit anywhere you wanted. Ryanair is pretty cheap. It was about $30 for the flight BUT that was DOUBLED because of the fact that I had luggage. Carry-on is included of course.

Goodbye Denmark...

HELLO ENGLAND!

I felt SO excited at times I felt like I might cry. Finally, so many months of waiting and so much preparing, and I was finally going to arrive in England. As the plane flew lower and lower, I had such a fun time passing over the countryside and looking at the housing. LOTS of huge houses (well, mansions I suppose) and some very regal-looking ones for sure. This just contributed to my excitement because obviously we don't have such castle-looking housing in the states (as far as I'm aware of).

I flew into Stanstead airport and took a bus into the city. It was a rather long bus ride because traffic was terrible due to the tube being on strike.

When I was dropped off at Victoria Coach station, I was confused. I thought I might take the bus to Chelsea, because it would have been pretty hard to walk that far with so much luggage. The bus wasn't going to leave for quite awhile so I very confusedly walked around the station and saw a line of taxis. I very timidly approached them and a driver asked if I needed a taxi. Yes please, told him the address, and I arrived at the dorm! What a relief!

[September 6] Åarhus, Denmark: Into Town for a Visit & Food.

I wanted to take it easy on Monday because I knew that it would be all hustle and bustle once I got to London. Jette took me to visit her friend Katrine at her flat. It looks like a pleasant and spacious place to live. She told me that the minimun wage in Denmark is 99 Kroner an hour (I think it was 99 but if not it was 90-something) which is almost $17. Sheesh. But a lot is taken out for taxes I have to keep in mind because of all of the services in Denmark that are offered for 'free'.

Sculpture made my Katrine which I really liked:

Afterwards Jette and I checked out a bakery...

...and then went to buy some typical Danish open-faced sandwiches (although I don't know how it can be a sandwich since there's not anything being sandwiched...).

Typical Danish fare:

Mine was the one on the right but I tried the one of the left and they were both delicious!

Then, yet ANOTHER delicious dinner: