[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!

[December 28] Dortmund, Germany: Impressionist Exhibit

Impressionism is my favorite kind of art, so I was excited when C's family decided to go to a popular Impressionist exhibit in a nearby city. It was pretty crowded there! I did enjoy it quite a bit but it would have been better if there weren't so many people. Also, something about going to see art in a museum makes me a bit uncomfortable these days. It feels weird to go to a big building and walk around looking at carefully placed art on a wall. I never used to have this 'problem' until recently. I much rather the art be placed in everyday places, integrated into daily life instead of being put in a big, cold museum.

On a brighter note, here's a pic of me and C taken at lunch that I really like:

[December 27] Dortmund, Germany: Jazz Club, Turkish Bar, Etc.

I think this was definitely one of my favorite nights in Germany. It was nice to be out and about at night and to see some new places in Dortmund. We started out at a bar with a little area for music upstairs.

I've never had a really fancy drink like this before—it was really yummy. 

I really enjoyed the jazz music... it was a nice atmosphere.

Then C and I went to a Turkish Cafe... It was cool because 1. It was open late and 2. You could smoke inside. I'm not a regular smoker but I do really enjoy cigarillos from time to time. I found these really cute cigarillos in London!:

So many delicious things... Those little rolls are these little Turkish snacks... they're really oily with rice inside and some kind of wrapping like... seaweed or something? Well, they were tasty. :) And I got to try some beer brewed in Dortmund too. I liked it, but then honestly I have never tried a beer and not liked it.

It was a perfect evening in my opinion!

[December 26] Dortmund, Germany: The Day I Accidentally Deleted All Of The Photos For... >:(

The day after Christmas was a big, busy day. I took A LOT of pictures, A LOT of AWESOME pictures, and then, since I can be an idiot, I deleted them ALL! YAY! 

>:( I am still so angry with myself. But oh well, they're gone... luckily, C's dad had some pics, so all of these in this post are thanks to him!

MORNING: In the morning, we went to a service at a Catholic church. I was kind of excited, because I'd never been to a Catholic service before. Even though it was in German so I didn't understand anything, that was still okay. I had a nice time humming along to the hymns, even if they were weird and melodically unpredictable (which is sometimes a good thing but these were just... eh...) so it was a nice little 'challenge' for me to read the music... Considering I don't especially like organized religion, I really liked the organization and ceremonial aspects to the service.

After the service, C's family and I and some of C's other relatives all went to visit the grave of C's grandmother. The cemetery looked gorgeous all covered in snow. Sadly, my pictures.... GRR...

AFTERNOON: We met a lot of C's family at a restaurant for a nice Christmas lunch. Wow... I feel like I met so many people, whooooosh! Lot's of German filling my ears. I really do enjoy listening to the sound of the words, but after awhile I tend to zone out a bit because of course, no matter how hard I listen, nothing means anything. (That sounds so deep... "no matter how hard I listen, nothing means anything" hahaha). 

I really liked talking to one of C's uncles. Well, C had to act as our interpreter. But it was neat because he played violin so we had a little bit to talk about. I got the feeling that he though if he spoke very, very slowly and clearly in German, it would help me understand. Ha ha. (I know a lot of people do that with English too... "DO... YOU... SPEAK... ENGLISH...???").

EVENING: After the lunch, we went to visit C's grandpa who lives in a retirement home. I really liked talking to C's parents about his interesting life. Then we visited a nearby cathedral that is one thousand years old!:

THEN... We went to a Winter Wonderland in a park with a ton of cool Christmas lights and art. I had SO many awesome pics but... >:(

One of my favorites:

<3