Expect the unexpected!

Evan, encountering something
unexpected (though this was not the
main "unexpected find")

Today turned out to be a lot more exciting than I thought it would be (in mostly good ways). It started when I woke up, got ready for school, and left to bike to the station. The weather was really nice when I left my house, but in a typical Denmark fashion, after about 3 minutes it was raining and about 2 minutes after that it started to sleet. Yuck! No matter... I made it to the station in my usual 14 minutes, rode up to the bike rack, and hopped off to lock up my bike. That was when I encountered unexpected challenge #1 (or 2 if you count the sleet/icy roads): the key to my bike locks had broken off the key ring leaving me with an ability to lock my back wheel, but no ability to attach my bike to anything stable. Hmmm... 

I took everything out of my backpack and found nothing. The key was gone. So, I did what any 22 year old girl with a problem in a foreign country does... called my host mother! (Well, I actually called her since it is her bike and I wanted her to make the decision about my next move). I offered to ride home, drop the bike, bus back to the station and go from there, but she said no. Her exact response was, "No! Don't worry. We would be really unlucky if it got taken today." She was right, but I was still nervous. "And call me if you arrive at the station tonight and it is gone! I will pick you up," Helle said in closing. Gulp. Bikes are expensive. I didn't want to risk it. Still, I locked the back wheel and went to the platform, hoping that it would still be there in the evening...

The far end of my table. I sat next to Jen and Julian (2 ppl
I had never really talked with before). 

At DIS we had a guest lecturer who was interesting enough, but did a lot of repeating of the information that we've been learning about Positive Psychology over the past two weeks. However, after we finished our morning lecture we went out to an Indian food buffet (paid for by DIS!). The food was really good, but mostly it was a nice opportunity for us to get to interact more outside the classroom before our Thursday study tour. We ate and talked and ate some more. 

After our class split up, Evan and I decided to go exploring. I was interested in going to find the famous Mermaid at the harbor and Evan had seen a park on the map that looked interesting in the same general direction. We never found the mermaid, but what we did find was about 100x better (no offense to the mermaid!). 

Here is Evan, posing like the statue above.

We first arrived at a set of gates, which we entered to circle the grounds of an old church. 

From there, we saw a bridge and what we thought was the interesting looking park from Evan's map. 

Should we go on the bridge? Evan never doubted it.

When heading towards it, we turned around to see a different (and far more spectacular) view of the church. 

wow! talk about a dramatic transformation! I especially love the Danish flag blowing in the wind.

We continued on.

We dared to venture across!!

We arrive on the other side and walked through the entry, but might as well have arrived in a completely different place and time. I now know (from Lars) that we had stumbled onto what was some sort of an old military compound/base. I'm not sure how to describe the experience except to say that with each turn of the path we had a better and better view and encountered more and more spectacular colors.

Here is Evan, peeking into one of the first buildings we found. 

Up close. 

Everything was so deserted. We probably saw three or four people the entire time we were around the buildings. The colors were stunning. The buildings were beautiful. The grounds were kept immaculately. It was like we stumbled into a painting.

The place was pretty much deserted. It made the experience almost surreal.

Almost all of the buildings were the same deep red/orange color. There was the yellow building (above) and a yellow church (which we entered). You can also see a lone biker above. 

View from another church window.

View from out one of the church windows.

We left the church and saw that there was a slope that climbed steeply leading to some sort of path. After a couple of people ran up it, we decided to venture forth! 

Up the slope we go...

WOW! I can't even describe it... The path rose above the level of the buildings and... everything was GORGEOUS. The grasses were ridiculously green and lush ("like a golf course," Evan said), and the sky was blue though the sun was setting. We wound around a giant windmill, a lake, and several fields at an elevated level and enjoyed the red buildings below.

The first view of the windmill as we rounded the corner. 

People across the way on the same path that we walked.

Around behind the windmill.

I think I took about 30 variations of this photograph... it still is nowhere close to as beautiful as the real thing.

The buildings as viewed from slight elevation. 

Continuing along the path.

A giant lake that was frozen over. Oh darn.. I wish I had brought my skates!

I snapped a final shot before we left for the train station. 

There is no way for me to post all of the photos I took, but I have selected SOME of the nicer ones. I am also going back with Evan soon to take some shots with my good camera (as opposed to my cheap point and shoot... although I am not sure the conditions could have been any more perfect). Anyone who is interested can see the full selection upon my return home ;) Major props to Evan for his guiding sense of intuition! This was my new favorite place in Copenhagen (until further notice). 

He and I got on our respective trains and headed home, more than content after our adventure. I arrived back at the station with daylight to spare and cautiously approached the bike rack... ... was it there? ... I found my row and TA DA! My bike was safely there! It really would have been terrible luck for it to have been stolen, but then again, Kasper's bike was stolen on the first day that he didn't lock the front wheel to something. I hopped on and headed home (this time without the sleet/rain). 

While biking I reflected on just how unexpected the day turned out to be: an initial unexpected problem, followed by a series of unexpected (and wonderful) discoveries! Perhaps that is one of the best things about studying abroad; I am learning to expect the unexpected. In fact this whole experience is kind of one unexpected adventure. Someone during orientation said that DIS/CPH was nothing like what she imagined, but she hadn't expected it to be. I like this idea and really connect with it. I think I used to go into new situations with a very clear set of expectations (I do this a lot less now) and it was harder for me to adjust to the real conditions and to appreciate them. While abroad it is especially an advantage to just go with it and see what happens! On days like today it really pays off. 

I've now settled in for a nice evening at home with my family. Mira just got back from riding and Kasper is working on reading a 500-page book, which he has to finish in one month because it is on loan from the library (and someone is waiting for it after him so he can't renew it). I am feeling kind of on the verge of getting sick (yes, Mom, I am drinking my Airborn), which would make sense given that at least half of my class has been very, very ill for the past week. I'm hoping to don't come down with something before our study tour on Thursday. 

Tomorrow I have my volunteer position in the late morning-mid afternoon, and then I am meeting up with one of my best friends from elementary school who is playing pro b-ball in Denmark!! I am super excited and will give at least some sort of a brief update tomorrow, if for no other reason that to say a temporary farewell before my departure on Thursday (at 5:30am...)! 

Godnat! (Goodnight), Sara