KØBENHAVN & DANMARK!

So yesterday at about 4:33 in the morning I got home from a wonderful (and action-packed) trip to Denmark with the family. As happy as I was to come home to Førde I couldn't help wishing I was still in Denmark enjoying a MUCH-needed (well--not really, but it was good to get away) break from school. & the only, yet insanely big, downside of the entire trip was that I missed 5 days of school and now I have like 3483493847 things I have to make up including 3 heiledagprøva (all day tests, kind of like exams or term tests.) ANYWAYS, straying away from my stressful future ahead, my trip to Denmark was surprisingly one of the best! We first took a flight out of Bergen on Tuesday the 27th of May into Copenhagen, AKA Kongens By ("The King's city). Copenhagen is really unlike any city I have been to. It's got a look of it's own, modern yet splashed with buildings from the past, giving it kind of a timeless effect & the mood is rather laidback (kinda like San Fransisco) with as many fun things to do and see as London. PLUS they got good ice-cream there ;).

Even though it's still in Scandinavia, I feel like Copenhagen or maybe just Denmark is different than Norway in the way that people are. I feel that the Danish are less shy and more willing to talk to those they don't know to a greater extent than the norwegians, but HEY, That's culture, right? One MAJOR difference between Norway and Denmark and perhaps the BIGGEST difference is interestingly, geography. DENMARK IS A PANCAKE; it's COMPLETELY flat there with like one or two "mountains" worth being noticed or even called "mountains". & because of this major geographical difference, there are more people living in the Copenhagen area than there are living in Norway alone. I guess it's harder to settle down high on top of a mountain or down in the fjords, huh. ;).

Another difference is the language. WHAT. THE. HECK. IS. DANISH?. It is so difficult to understand! Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the language, it's just next to impossible to understand what people are trying to say. A great deal of the words in the same but the pronounciation and sound are different. Danish uses a lot of d's and g's where Norwegian doesn't. For example, "Kake" in norwegian is "Kage" in Danish, bahh It's hard to describe but when they speak it is said to sound to a Norwegian as if they have a potatoe in their throat. I feel like they slur a lot of their words or to me it sounds like Norwegian with slurred words or maybe Norwegian said in a different way. ANYWAYS, its just REALLY hard to understand haha.

About Copenhagen itself, it isn't a HUGE city and almost everything worth seeing is within walking distance between eachother which made it really easy to navigate around the city. The buildings were pretty and I said before they were both modern and old giving it a good variety of "old city" to "new city". What I liked best about it is that there were ample amounts of pedestrian only places, the shopping and cafe strip to be exact which makes it easier to look around and just stroll around. & Let me say that the shopping was GREAT! They had all the shops a girl could ever need or ask for ;) AKA: TOPSHOP & H&M. I know it's bad, but I DID spend money on more clothes. Don't worry though, tis a good investment. The first day we spent walking around a little and going into shops (we only really window-shopped this day) & we ate at a really nice cafe for lunch near the marina. It was SO warm like 70, which I know may not seem warm to you lucky ducks in the US with like 80 degree weather and counting, but after a winter filled with minus degrees and A LOT of snow I have permission to say it was really warm. In the evening we went to TIVOLI!!!! Tivoli is an amusement park RIGHT smack dab in the middle of the city. There we ate at a really nice restaurant as guests of a business partner to Jan, my host father. Nothing like steak and potatoes Danish style must I say ;). We were also really lucky because the Danish queen happened to be dining in Tivoli (not at the same restaurant, but still on the premisis) with the Russian president who was on a visit & I SAW HER!!!!!! VERY COOL! After, Sanne & I went on all the rides (or all the ones we could fit in a time span of an hour and a half before closing). Luckily there were no lines because it was a school night. The next few days we spent sightseeing the city and shopping & thankfully the weather kept up it's warm streak until our last day in the city so it was SUNGLASSES & SPRING JACKETS all the way ;). THAT was nice. I even walked around in a short sleeve shirt one day. My arms exist?!? WHAT!? I do have arms, they've just been hiding since like the 1st of December. ;).

On Friday we took another flight to another place in Denmark to Jan's sisters house for a few days. There we went to the Confirmation of Sanne's cousin and stay with the family for awhile (3 days). I can't describe to you HOW nervous I was to meet the family seeing as though firstly, I'm not 100% perfect in norwegian and when everyone was speaking danish I had NO idea how I would get by. Also, EVERYONE is curious about the foreign exchange student so I had to expect to be asked questions. It was definitely nerve-wrecking, but in the end I survived;). The family is so nice and welcoming and now I wonder why I was nervous in the first place. They understood the language barrier, but I found that I could understand well if I just listened intently. The confirmation itself was great & I got to experience it in DANISH. I'm not particularly religious, but I recognized the same prayers in Danish that we have in English. It was cool recognizing "Hail Mary" in Danish and that I could follow along with the service. What followed after the confirmation I can quite accurately call a banquet. There was SO MUCH FOOD and we ate LITERALLY (seriously, I'm not kidding) from 1 in the afternoon to 7 in the evening with like a trillion and one courses (give or take a few;) actually it was only about 5) of amazing food. Of course we had breaks in between each course but it felt as if I had gained about 20 pounds and I'm detirmined to work that off within the next few months before I go home.

The family gathering was nice; I loved meeting the entire family. Although I could never feel 100% a part of it, I felt pretty darn close to it. Throughout the day, I found myself comparing it to the family gatherings I have with my own family and I realized that no matter how many different ways a family is assembled or meets importance of family togetherness is a universal value in all cultures...All in all the whole trip was great.

I am actually world's most spoiled foreign exchange student. I've been to 4 different countries within the span of one school year with a 5th potentially on the future agenda ;). PLus at this point in my stay I feel almost 100 % in my host family and with my class at school. & I'm just going to say that it's WICKED cool being able to understand everything that everyone is saying. Best feeling ever.



'(pictures later:))


ONLY 59 DAYS? :(:(