Rest and a rendez-vous!

I am happy to report that after 2 full cartons of orange juice, 6 cups of tea, a half package of cough drops, warm soup, and a lot of sleep I am feeling 95% recovered from my cold! Pretty impressive in just 3 days! It meant making some activity sacrifices this weekend, but by Sunday I was feeling well enough to venture outside.

Friday I was feeling pretty awful when classes ended, and so I opted to come home immediately afterwards, even though it meant cancelling a date with Ilana. While my family went to dinner at our grandfather’s house, I spent the evening resting and drinking tons of fluids at home. I watched a little bit of Law and Order and then got to skype with Mike (!!!!!) who is safely home from his deployment. It was SO fantastic to see him and hear his voice. It made my night. After my family returned from dinner, I watched a really terrible movie with Lars until midnight, at which point I went right to sleep.

Saturday I woke up feeling a bit better, though not well enough to follow through with plans to explore the city (in the rain/cold/wind) with some classmates. On a bright note, I ended up going indoor mini-golfing with my host family instead! They were celebrating the end of their vacation and invited me along. Lars was comfortably winning the whole game, while Kasper and Helle tried to vamp up the competition, while Mira was of course good-natured about it all. In the end I came in 2nd. I have promised to take them mini-golfing in Gaithersburg when they visit this summer!

We all waited in silence for the final scores to be calculated!
Lars started and then Kasper came in for backup and then
Mira got out her cellphone calculator.. it was a big deal!

The final score!
Lars=1st place
Sara=2nd (by 20strokes!)
Helle= a closer 3rd
Kasper= a closer 4th
Mira= the true winner (she had the best time)

Sunday was a nice warm-up to the week. I was able to take an afternoon excursion into Copenhagen, which was good to get me up and moving before returning to school today. I met up with Liz, one of my friends from Danish Language class, and we decided to go to Christiania, which is a little sub-community within CPH. The joke (and sometimes genuine misperception) about the area is that people who live and visit there think that drugs (particularly pot) are legal within the community limits although they are illegal in the rest of Denmark. [This is not actually true.] Liz and I were not interested in finding pot brownies or dealers, but did have a fantastic time walking around and taking lots of pictures! We got off the metro and literally picked a random direction and began walking. We climbed some stone stairs and found a park full of Danish kids in snowsuits (as you know, my favorite thing). We even played on some of the equipment with them.

When we got off the train we turned to the right and then started walking down random streets)

We went up a little path and found a boy on the way to a park

Before we entered the playground area, I turned around to snap this shot... it can be added to the collection of beautiful rooftops

Here I am, conquering the playground (like a Viking)!

Liz had fun in the giant house (though we couldn't figure out why it had a giant round hole), on the zip line, and on this crazy rocking horse that was a bit too rock-y!

We left the park and went through some of the little neighborhood streets. The bikes, the windows, the architecture in general, were all just so picture perfect.

The buildings could have been taken out of a postcard

I think I have a small obsession with windows

Ta-da!

I don't know why I like this photo so much, but I really think it captures some of the charm of the city and biking culture well

A very different style of architecture as we left the residential area 

We then wandered out of the residential areas and into the area by many canals and harbors. Liz patiently waited for me while I took about 100 photos. The sky was very grey (in fact it was almost a milky white), but the colors of the buildings still reflected on the water. 

Grey sky makes it all very dramatic

I can't wait to see what this will look like in the spring

This was where we sat to take a break. People were feeding the birds 

I like that there is so much going on in this photo: the boat coming in, the birds in a small flock, the people and cars crossing the street... lots of activity! I think that if you click on the photo it will be bigger (might be worth it)

A new type of pastry... yum!

We then got pastries at a bakery and ate them by a canal and watched the birds, boats, and passers-by. I got to know Liz a lot better, which was really nice, and I hope that we get to hang out again soon. We compared interesting experiences with the Danes (she had some funny stories about her visiting family) and learned about each other’s lives back home. :)

After doing a little more wandering we headed back to the train station and then went off in our separate directions. On the way we passed a different part of the harbor that was just as beautiful (but quite different). We posed for a couple of final pictures. 

Gorgeous...

A successful outing

The train ride was quiet, and I had a nice evening at home. I spent some time with my host family, some time skyping with my dad, some time catching up on emails, and a lot of time doing homework. It was a very nicely balanced day and I fell asleep early, hoping to successfully kick this illness (which I did!).  

Dad learned how to use the toolbar on our google "hangout" 

I had a really, really interesting positive psychology class today and then just had an awesome opportunity to apply what we had learned in an extended hour-long conversation and activity with Lars and Helle. It was really a learning-in-action type day and I will post more about it tomorrow. 

For tonight I have about a weeks worth of homework to do! Things have been coming up all day long (making travel plans, talking with Helle, doing an activity with Lars and Helle, have a hour-long family dinner, and then discussing how we feel the semester is going for us as a family) so my work keeps getting pushed back. Do I regret even one second of these interactions/conversations/experiences... not a chance! There will always be more homework.... my host parents will not always be sitting in the next room eager to hear about my positive psych activity. But now while everyone else is occupied and everything else has been put on hold.. homework! Vi ses!